Liverpool Enter into Negotiations with Arsenal for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Immediately after news broke in the London press that Arsenal were willing to negotiate with Liverpool over the transfer of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Liverpool have confirmed that they have entered into negotiations for the player.

James Pearce of The Liverpool Echo and Paul Joyce of The Times both report that the club have now reached out to Arsenal and are entering into negotiations, though Liverpool are not inclined to match Chelsea’s £40M bid for the player.

Instead, the club is likely to rely on the player’s determination to move to join Jürgen Klopp at Anfield and the threat of losing him for nothing next summer for Arsenal to drive down the price to a level more acceptable to The Reds.

It had previously been claimed that Liverpool had lodged a formal £30M bid, though that turned out to not be true—still, it is widely believed that that is the fee Liverpool would be willing to bid for Oxlade-Chamberlain this summer.

Meanwhile, there are reports that Liverpool officials are meeting with their Monaco counterparts and remain hopeful of signing Thomas Lemar—and that it may now be possible the club will try to sign both midfield players.