Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has admitted that a move to Celtic was already on his mind even before Martin O’Neill reached out to him…
The former England international was officially presented to supporters at Celtic Park ahead of Saturday’s Scottish Cup clash with Dundee, watching from the stands as late drama saw Junior Adamu keep the Hoops in the competition before Sebastian Tounekti struck in extra time.
Oxlade-Chamberlain revealed that conversations with former Hoops goalkeeper Joe Hart and ex-Liverpool teammate Andy Robertson played a key role in convincing him to make the switch to Glasgow.
The midfielder – who has signed a contract until the end of the campaign with the possibility of a further year – went on to explain his thinking, saying via Daily Record: “I was with Joe Hart a couple of weeks ago at James Milner’s birthday and I asked him about Celtic. He just said it was the best two or three years of his life and that he absolutely loved it.
“He actually suggested this could be perfect for me and said ‘you’d love it up there Ox’. This was literally a few weeks ago, before any of this had come up. He raved about it, how much he loved it, how the people treated him, how intense and passionate it is.
Oxlade-Chamberlain added: “I’m best mates with Andy Robertson as well so it didn’t take much convincing from him. He told me to get in the car and get up here.
“I’m really excited – I think the manager must have just caught wind I didn’t have a job. He said he’d love to have me up here so it was quite seamless.
“The manager is maybe a bit more old school so he just said ‘are you ready to come and play?’ I said ‘yeah, absolutely’ and here we are – we’re ready to get cracking.
“I’m ready, I’ve been training for three months with Arsenal. It’ll take a little bit of time as it always does to get up to your full match fitness. But in terms of being ready to go now, I’m good to go.
“I know for this club, winning every trophy is the expectation. Looking at it, the fact there’s a bit of work to do, that actually excites me. I feel that that’s a real challenge for us all and something that I want to get my teeth stuck into.”
Oxlade-Chamberlain could turn out to be the signing of the season for Celtic with his experience going to be vital in the Scottish Premiership and also the Scottish Cup.
Unfortunately the deal wasn’t completed in time to make the Europa League squad but that can be turned to Celtic’s advantage by allowing Ox to play in the domestic games either side of the Stuttgart fixtures and hopefully beyond that.
Watch Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s interview with Celtic TV below…
Conor Spence
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Will be interesting to see what plans MoN and Maloney have in mind for the OX?
In a positional sense, think the attacking midfield role, within a 4231, might be favourite imo?
Hatate and Benji have been the preferred choices to date, yet both are capable of handing up possession far to easily also.
Benji goal return has been impressive enough, despite the other weaknesses within his overall game?
Think that the OX may well become our best available option, for that position imo?
May take a few games to get up to match speed and fitness, but hopefully becomes a very valuable addition to our squad?