WHAT HAPPENED? Oxlade-Chamberlain left Liverpool after six seasons this summer to join Turkish giants Besiktas after he fell down the pecking order at Merseyside. He got to start just 17 matches in the 2021-22 campaign and from there his Reds career only went south. A hamstring injury during the pre-season of 2022-23 further complicated the situation and over the course of the season, he was handed sporadic opportunities, often when the fate of the matches was more or less sealed.
WHAT THEY SAID: “I just guess you want that communicated to you because you start going out of your mind thinking, ‘What more can I do here?’. And it was never really written off that you’re not getting offered a new contract,” he said during an interview with The Athletic.
“It was never said. I obviously got the picture (laughs). I got told before they released the statement (three days before that Villa game): ‘Just so you know, we’re putting this out about you, Milly, Bobby and Naby leaving’. And I was like, ‘Oh, OK. Thanks’. But there was nothing official at any point before. It was just… the silence was enough to know what the situation was.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: However, Oxlade-Chamberlain insisted that he had a wonderful relationship with Klopp and hence the silence was even more “surprising”.
“You just… expect certain things to be told — whether it’s good, bad, whatever, that’s how the game goes. The lack of communication was… a bit surprising,” he said.
“We (he and Klopp) had a good relationship. There was never any falling-out or anything like that. I understand as a manager it’s not easy to navigate every player’s needs, but when I was playing, I definitely enjoyed him a lot more than when I wasn’t even on the bench (laughs). But that’s how it goes,” he added.
IN TWO PHOTOS:
WHAT NEXT? Oxlade-Chamberlain will be in action in the Turkish derby when Besiktas take on Galatasaray on Saturday, whereas, Klopp will be busy leading his troops in the Merseyside derby against Everton at Anfield on the same day.