The Pep revolution has begun in full swing at Manchester City and after the signings of Ilkay Gundogan and Nolito but the Spanish manager might have his eyes set on an Englishman and he isn’t John Stones.
The player in question is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, yes, the same Arsenal star who has flattered to deceive for a number of seasons for the Gunners. While Alex does have a lot of talent, it only shows up once in a while and with so many other stars ahead of him in the pecking order, it might be a good move to let him go but should Arsenal really let go of one of their best youngsters?
The Englishman signed for the London club in 2011 from Southampton but hasn’t played one season for the Gunners which does not have a story about him getting injured for the side. Oxlade-Chamberlain hasn’t been the most prolific of scorers either, despite being dynamic. The 22-year-old has only scored 14 goals in almost five seasons for Arsenal and that is not good enough.
While Manchester City does seem to be a bit of a crazy step to take for the Englishman , even then so many Arsenal players have already made the switch, having someone like Pep Guardiola leading the Manchester City surely can help Oxlade-Chamberlain get better.
This isn’t to say that Arsene Wenger cannot deal with a young player who just cannot hit the next level but sometimes a footballer needs a different point of view and maybe someone like Pep Guardiola can unlock the talent that Oxlade-Chamberlain has possessed ever since he broke into the Southampton side all those years ago.
Pep does have a history of working extremely well with youngsters and he would be looking to do something similar with the Manchester City side next season. He already must have set up plans to overhaul the youth system and maybe a new approach is what is needed for the Arsenal man.
City would also need more English players and signing the attacking midfielder would not be the worst idea, given the fact that he would not cost as much as a John Stones and Raheem Sterling but certainly he would need a lot of work if he is to reach the levels he was expected to fulfil a few years ago.
The big question would be whether Arsene would be willing to sell one of his young signings to a direct rival? He did that with a lot of players already such as Emmanuel Adebayor, Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy, Kolo Toure and Bacary Sagna and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could well be the next one to go this route.
He would also be somewhat strengthening the opposition if they can get the best out of the 22-year-old and no Arsenal fan would want to see a repeat of the Robin van Persie fiasco, though the Englishman still has time to get better and reach the form that the Dutch striker had at Manchester United when he made his move to London.
If Manchester City do provide good money for the Ox then it would make sense to let go of him but if the side is trying to get him in cheap, Arsenal should keep on to him and hope that he does reach his ability sooner rather than later.
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