Exclusive: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to Birmingham City? Sky Sports pundit reacts to Arsenal update | OneFootball

Lee Hendrie discusses the ex-Arsenal and Liverpool midfielders situation exclusively with FLW

Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie has hinted that Birmingham City should consider reviving their interest in free agent Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - or another club will.

This comes after the 32-year-old midfielder was confirmed to be training with Arsenal as he searches for a new club following his departure from Turkish side Besiktas over the summer.

Oxlade-Chamberlain arrived at Arsenal's Colney training facility on Monday to maintain his fitness whilst searching for a new club - following the precedent set by the Gunners in allowing former players to use their facilities during periods between clubs.

Besiktas, managed at the time by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, reportedly paid the former England International £1.5m to terminate his contract in August.

What Lee Hendrie has said about Birmingham City potentially eyeing up Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain again

The midfielder's availability as a free agent follows the BBC's report that Birmingham City were among several clubs linked with a move during the summer transfer window.

They claimed that Blues held "strong interest" in the player, yet no deal obviously materialised in the West Midlands - or anywhere else for that matter - and Oxlade-Chamberlain remained unsigned.

Discussing the situation exclusively with FLW, Hendrie was certainly emphatic about Oxlade-Chamberlain's ability to perform at Championship level.

"Listen, Oxlade-Chamberlain I think, for me, could step into most Championship clubs, and I’m sure he’ll be ready to make that step forward," Hendrie told FLW.

"You know he’s got quality, you know that he’s got stacks of experience, and obviously was linked with Birmingham. As a free agent, there would be clubs that’d be foolish not to sort of take a punt on Oxlade-Chamberlain, you know what he could bring," he added.

Hendrie is definitely right on the experience part - Oxlade-Chamberlain made 200 appearances for Arsenal after joining from Southampton in 2011, before moving to Liverpool in 2017 for a reported £35m.

During his subsequent six years at Anfield, he won both the Premier League and Champions League under Jurgen Klopp, before moving to Turkey in 2023 where he made 50 appearances for Besiktas.

Before his contract in Turkey was terminated, he started 14 of the 18 Super Lig games he featured in - so it's not like he didn't play at all. According to Transfermarkt, Oxlade-Chamberlain missed five games last season through injury, compared to 18 in 23/24.

"He can play in probably a few different positions, where we’ve seen him play for Liverpool, he can play central, he can play out wide," Hendrie continued.

"I suppose it will just be down to whether he’s fit and ready to come into a club. I certainly think there are clubs out there that would want to take him all day," Hendrie concluded.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain might struggle to fit into Chris Davies' Birmingham City side

Whether Oxlade-Chamberlain would genuinely fit into Blues’ current setup is another question entirely. Like Hendrie said, he can play in a few positions, but the West Midlands outfit are pretty stacked in those areas he is comfortable in.

Birmingham have won their last two league games 4-0 with Wolves loanee Tommy Doyle and Paik Seung-ho starting in the middle of the park, whereas Paik's midfield partner from last season, Tomoki Iwata, has started at right back for the last three.

So, the Iwata/Paik midfield partnership that proved so effective in League One has already been disrupted - and Davies has seemingly found a winning formula with the current setup, so might not want to bring in another face (Oxlade-Chamberlain).

It's not like they really need a backup for any of these three players mentioned, because that's Marc Leonard's job. As for wide attacking areas, Blues obviously signed Demarai Gray, Patrick Roberts and Lewis Koumas in the summer to add to what they already had.

Even then, it's hard to see Oxlade-Chamberlain being signed with the view of playing ahead of any of them out wide.

On the face of it, whilst Hendrie's view of Oxlade-Chamberlain's quality is entirely justified, the current reality at St Andrew's suggests his addition would not be that big of a requirement for Davies at this moment in time.

Although if something changes, they could very well revive their interest, and it's perhaps likely that a lot of other second tier clubs will be monitoring his training with Arsenal.