Arsenal were never going to reach the end of this transfer window without losing a first-team player.
Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil have been linked with moves away all summer, and could still leave the club before Thursday's transfer deadline. However, it appears Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be the first of the team's high-profile players to walk through the Emirates' exit door this summer.
According Sky Sports, the Arsenal winger/central midfielder/wing-back will join Chelsea this week, after the clubs agreed a transfer fee worth around £35m.
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Even in the current transfer market, where Kyle Walker cost the best part of £50m, the fee seems exorbitant. Oxlade-Chamberlain is a good player, but he only has 12 months left on his contract, meaning he could have been signed on a free-transfer next summer. Liverpool completed a deal on Monday to sign Naby Keita next year, had Chelsea waited a few months they could've saved themselves a lot of money.
To put the transfer fee Chelsea are about to pay for the 24-year-old in context, Mo Salah cost Liverpool £36.9m. In five games for Jurgen Klopp's team, Salah has scored three goals. Oxlade-Chamberlain has scored nine goals, and made 14 assists, in 130 Premier League appearances for Arsenal. He could end up becoming a very good player for Chelsea, but it could be argued Arsenal are doing pretty well out of the transfer.
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They're getting a lot of money for a utility player who has never really cemented a first-team slot. Oxlade-Chamberlain, like his teammates, played terribly in the 4-0 loss to Liverpool on Sunday and the England international was also among the
five Arsenal players Gary Neville picked out for heavy criticism.
If Arsenal fans are still worried about the Oxlade-Chamberlain transfer, they should listen to Neville's Sky Sports colleague Jamie Carragher.
Following Sunday's game, the former Liverpool defender made a great point about Arsenal's players who have been linked with moves away.
"That's the type of performance that gets the manager the sack,"
Carragher said.
"We saw the performances at the end of last season, at Crystal Palace away, and you're talking about the position they could be in if certain players go. What have these players done? Arsenal should be winning, or certainly challenging for the Premier League... What have they done? You're saying how worse they're going to be (if they leave), can they be any worse than what they were today?"
Oxlade-Chamberlain is a good player, and obviously Arsenal fans won't be happy to see him sign for Chelsea. But something needs to change at the club, and if it's not the manager, then some players are better off leaving to freshen up the squad. Arsenal will get a very good fee for a player who has reportedly rejected a new contract and can leave for nothing next summer.
Losing Oxlade-Chamberlain is the least of the club's troubles at this point, and Carragher is right, it's not as if Arsenal have been brilliant the past few years with the current squad.
