Liverpool great John Barnes believes Anfield outcast Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could prove to be an ideal addition to the Leicester City camp who are gunning for Champions League qualification this season in the Premier League.
Chamberlain has fallen down the pecking order in the Liverpool setup under Jurgen Klopp and with only ten top-flight outings under his belt over the course of this campaign, the 27-year-old midfielder is tipped for an exit in the forthcoming summer transfer window.
According to reports from the Mirror, Barnes feels that the former Arsenal man can really benefit from securing a move to the King Power Stadium in the summer for his search of regular first-team football which has dried down in the past year or so at Anfield.
‘A Premier League team is definitely somewhere Oxlade-Chamberlain can go,’ said Barnes.
‘He won’t be going to Chelsea, Manchester United or back to Arsenal. Leicester could be a really good place for him, which is a good opportunity to play for a Champions League team.
‘If you’re playing regularly for Liverpool as one of the first names on the team sheet and want to leave then the teams that you might go to are Barcelona and Real Madrid, if you’re a squad player that’s not the case – like with Adam Lallana going to Brighton.
‘It’s fine being at a club that is winning the league and Champions League, so if Oxlade-Chamberlain is leaving to play regular football I commend him for that, this is also why Lallana left.
‘He’s been fantastic and a great servant for Liverpool even though he hasn’t been there that long. He always tried really hard whenever he plays and never upset anyone by throwing his toys out of his pram.
‘You need people to be characters when they’re not playing and it’s been great to have them around the squad. ‘He’s never upset anyone because he’s not playing and Klopp has always made sure these are the kind of players he has in the squad.’
The likes of Curtis Jones and James Milner have superseded Chamberlain in the pecking order of late with Jurgen Klopp keen on rotating his options in the centre of the park.
Chamberlain missed a major chunk of this season owing to a knee injury which he sustained during the pre-season tour curtailing his gametime for a significant period.
