‘This situation is not always easy for all the boys not only Ox… Am I counting on him for next season? Yes.’ Jurgen Klopp, May 7; 2021.
Liverpool’s manager looked down the barrel of a television camera as he said those words, his words were clear and the message was emphatic. If doubts were swirling about Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s long-term future on Merseyside, they were not shared by the man whose opinion matters most.
Six months on from that statement, though, and there continues to be uncertainty about what role this midfielder will have at Anfield in the long-term, with his display against Brighton four days earlier reigniting the debate.