Bad news for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain injury recovery?

Liverpool may not be expecting to see much of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain this season after latest transfer rumor puts doubt over his return from injury.

Transfer rumors are heating up for Liverpool ahead of the January transfer window opening in a couple of weeks. There appears to be traction in the speculation of an Anfield move for Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Pascal Gross.

While seeing Jurgen Klopp add more players to his squad chasing down a Premier League title will be good for Kopites this could mean some negative news for one injured star.

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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was injured during Liverpool’s Champions League Semi Final clash with Roma last season. He suffered a horrific knee injury and was given a year as a probable recovery time.

There has been hope more recently that he would come back earlier – a possible February return being mooted just a few weeks ago.

This latest piece of transfer news is not a good sign for an early return for Oxlade-Chamberlain. Jurgen Klopp already has six options for central midfield with Naby Keita, Fabinho, Gini Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson, Xherdan Shaqiri and James Milner all appearing there in the first half of the season.

The expectation was that Oxalde-Chamberlain would join that group early in 2019. That would allow Klopp to use him as cover on the wing for Sadio Mane and Mophamed Salah as well as another central option.

Signing Pascal Gross – who is available for only £15 million – allows Klopp to use Shaqiri and perhaps Keita as cover for the Liverpool wingers.

If the Reds do sign the German midfielder you can put decent money on a slower time frame of recovery for Oxlade-Chamberlain as the club takes a cautious approach to rehabilitating his knee and giving him plenty of time to get back to full match fitness.