Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has shunned a move to Premier League champions Chelsea, due to their plans to use him predominantly as a wing-back – but Danny Drinkwater and Fernando Llorente are both desperate to move to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea saw the Arsenal man as perfect to compete with Victor Moses on the right-side of their attack/defence, but the 24-year-old is not keen.
Instead, Oxlade-Chamberlain likes the sound of Liverpool’s plans for him as they see him in central midfield – which is where he would rather play.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is more than happy in the capital, but he will put his career first and will move to Anfield. The issue with Liverpool is that Arsenal do not want to sell to the Reds as they see them as direct rivals for a top-four place.
Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has shunned a new deal at Arsenal, will see out the rest of his contract with Arsenal before moving on.
Whilst, Oxlade-Chamberlain does not want the Chelsea move – England colleague Drinkwater is looking to seal the switch to Chelsea.
Chelsea have already had bids rejected for the Leicester man shunned, but he is understood to have put in a transfer request to try and force through a move.
Antonio Conte sees the 27-year-old is an ideal man to provide competition for N’Golo Kante and Tiemoue Bakayoko.
Conte is also pushing for Swansea’s Fernando Llorente – who he has wanted since January – to be added to his squad.
Chelsea bosses have now sanctioned the deal for the 32-year-old, and sources have told me that talks are ongoing over a deal which will be worth around £12million.
Bookmakers are confident Chelsea will be signing both Drinkwater and Llorente, SkyBet makes them both odds-on to make the move to Stamford Bridge. The Spaniard is 1/3 with Drinkwater as short as 1/6.
On Oxlade-Chamberlain, they have already reacted to the news that he has rejected Chelsea and he is now 4/7 to move to Liverpool.