Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (R) celebrates with teammate Kieran Gibbs following the team's goal against Norwich City during their English Premier League match at Emirates Stadium in London April 13, 2013. — Reuters Hosam Kateb If there is one thing Arsenal fans take pride in, it's that the club is considered, along with Barcelona and Ajax, an elite club in Europe when it comes to scouting, attaining and blossoming young talent into world class players. The examples would fill out a post in on itself, but just think of relatively unknown players such as Patrick Vieira, Kolo Toure, Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song who have all flourished into wonderful players in their respective positions, and came almost out of nowhere. The current Arsenal squad is almost filled with such players, and one of the more prominent names on that squad is that of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Oxlade-Chamberlain, known as “The Ox” among Arsenal and England supporters alike, is touted to be one of the key players for the club and country in the future. With incredible skills, an extremely wide passing range and deadly finishing, he has drawn comparisons to another product of the Southampton youth system, Theo Walcott. I called him a “Theo with brains” sometime early last season, something I'm not really that proud to admit, as Theo managed to become one of the club's key players and is leading Arsenal scorer. Before Arsenal managed to acquire “The Ox” from Southampton, Sir Alex Ferguson was scouting him, but his father Mark thought differently, and, through the media, namely the Southern Daily Echo, he gave his teenage son some fatherly advice, saying: “To develop at a place like Arsenal can't be a bad thing. In my eyes, I'd like to see him go there as soon as possible, and continue his development.” Young Alex took his father's advice, and signed for Arsenal on Aug. 8, 2011. Throughout his first season (2011-12) at the club, he was still considered green in manager Arsene Wenger's eyes, and was used mainly as a substitute. The substitutions would also come after the Emirates Stadium would rock with pleads from the crowd to “unleash the Ox”. His skill and pace has dazzled fans and opposition alike. His best game so far in the legendary red and white came in a loss to Manchester United, where he commanded the wing, and managed to create an assist for a player whose name I choose not to mention, as my selective memory loss happens to kick in at the moment. He also had an incredible performance at the Emirates in a Champions League 3-0 win against Serie A champion AC Milan, which had just come off a 4-0 win against Arsenal in the first leg. Playing in center midfield, young Oxlade-Chamberlain managed to dictate the pace of the game, besides managing to keep Milan's midfield in frequent disarray. Legendary striker Marco van Basten, who happens to be my second favorite non-Gunner ever, behind the great Zinadine Zidane, called him a “gem”, which should be considered extremely high praise coming from one of the greatest players to grace a football pitch. However, when the 2012-13 season began, we saw a dip in Oxlade-Chamberlain's form. His goal scoring and assists went down, which affected his playing time as well. He is still a young player who only turns 20 this August, however, that doesn't change the fact that he is not the player he was last season. This is very hard for me to say, as I'm a huge fan of his, and there are much more frustrating players on the Arsenal squad, who happen to get a lot more playing time, with Gervinho topping that list, but that's a discussion for another day. There are many reasons behind his dip in form, but mainly, it's a lack of stamina and physical fitness. It's not that he's unfit, but if you look at his performances, you would see him causing havoc in the first half, and almost entire an anonymity in the second, especially around the 70th minute, which is usually the time he would be subbed off. The pressure on him is also extremely high; a teenager joining a big club like Arsenal, with the fans already calling for him to come on almost every game can cause quite a considerable burnout. I don't see him flopping after such high promise, because the raw skill he has is quite incredible, and if nurtured correctly, could prove to be one of Arsenal's key players in the years to come, but for now, the curious case of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain continues. — Follow Hosam Kateb on Twitter @Hoskateb
