Rumour Mongering: Aston Villa Close on Oxlade-Chamberlain Signing

Departing Liverpool player Naby Keïta has officially joined Werder Bremen while James Milner continues to move towards joining Brighton, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain looks likely to be the next ex-Red to find a new home.

That’s the story that emerged over the weekend via TalkSport, who have the former England international as a target for Aston Villa as the Birmingham club seek to add depth ahead of a season that will see them competing in the Conference League.

Early reports from the outlets cast the deal as close to done, but since then the talk at TalkSport has been dialled back to talks and serious interest. Still, on paper it seems a plausible landing spot for the 29-year-old.

Oxlade-Chamberlain signed with Liverpool from Arsenal in summer of 2017 in a £35M deal and early signs were that he would be key to Jürgen Klopp’s side, but a serious knee injury suffered against Roma in April of 2018 saw those plans derailed.

Following a 2018-19 when he was only able to make two total appearances, Ox bounced back with a 43-appearance 2019-20 but struggles with further injuries as well as form then saw a steady decline in his minutes for the Reds.

In his six seasons at Anfield, Oxlade-Chamberlain made 146 total appearances and scored 18 goals, with eight of them coming in that 2019-20 season that saw him make both his most appearances in a season and win the Premier League title.