‘Gamble’ – Ex-Scotland Star Clear On Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain For Celtic | OneFootball

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Former Scotland international Alan Rough believes that signing free agent Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain would be a gamble for Celtic, but if the former Liverpool man can reproduce his old form, he could certainly be a hit.

Despite being under pressure to deliver in the transfer market, Celtic focused mainly on loan captures, with the likes of Junior Adamu, Julian Araujo, Tomas Cvancara, Benjamin Arthur and Joel Mvuka arriving.

One of their loan signings, Mvuka, has been dubbed ‘mediocre’ by a French journalist, who feels he will not significantly increase the level of the Celtic squad.

With the transfer window now officially closed, Celtic’s only hope of adding more quality to their squad rests on the free transfer market.

One of the available options there is former Arsenal and Liverpool star Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The 32-year-old is currently a free agent after being released by Turkish club Besiktas in August last year.

Oxlade-Chamberlain struggled to make a big impact in Turkey and some may feel he is now in decline in his career.

The Southampton academy graduate has recently been training with Arsenal to keep himself fit and there are now suggestions Celtic are preparing to sign him.

Rough believes that a move could work both ways as his rediscovery of old form could benefit Celtic immensely, but there is also a possibility of him becoming a liability.

“There is no doubt about it that at the top of his career he was an England player, top-class player”, Rough said on PLZ Soccer (1.39).

“He has been at a few big Premier League clubs. But he has been out of the game.

“I know he has been training, I think he is training with Arsenal but he hasn’t played.

“So, again, that is a wee bit of gamble, but certainly if he was to produce the form that he can do, it would be a good signing.”

Celtic took a huge decision in the final hours of the recently-concluded transfer window to reject as many as three bids from Premier League side Nottingham Forest for midfielder Arne Engels.