Significant Birmingham City "worry" issued over potential Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain transfer | OneFootball

Birmingham City have been linked with a move for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, but FLW's resident Blues fan pundit doesn't think this would a wise choice.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Birmingham City have been warned to err on the side of caution if considering a move for the former England international midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has been linked with a move to St. Andrew's.

There's no limit to the ambition of the Blues this season, as they seek a second successive promotion following their record-breaking League One title win at the end of the 2024-25 season.

They've started their Championship season with four points from their first two games against Ipswich Town and Blackburn Rovers, but with the division expected to be highly competitive this season, they need to keep winning if they're to still be in the mix by the end of the season.

11 new players - including two loans from last season that were made permanent - have already arrived at St. Andrew's this summer, but moving for the 32-year-old former Arsenal midfielder Oxlade-Chamberlain would be another clear sign of their ambition as the new season swings into action, although it could come at a cost.

Birmingham City urged to be cautious over signing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Football League World have spoken to resident Birmingham fan pundit Jason Moore for this assessment of the situation, and he isn't particularly enthusiastic about this potential arrival.

"Don't get me wrong, Oxlade-Chamberlain is a cracking player, really, really good player - I just worry about how fit he is and how injury-prone he's been over the last couple of seasons, and whether he's still hungry to play football or would he come in wanting to get us up," Jason told FLW.

"I can see this being a story made of nothing, but if the club look at him and go 'that's an option to get us up', then you know what, I'll welcome it and back him like everyone else.

"But for me personally, on the face of it, I think I'd say no."

Oxlade-Chamberlain's recent injury record would make him a high-cost gamble for Birmingham City

Despite reports earlier in the summer that they were set to cancel his contract, Besiktas still have Oxlade-Chamberlain on the books - for how much longer though remains to be seen.

His time in Türkiye has pretty much been an unmitigated disaster. Having signed for them in the summer of 2023, he tore a thigh muscle shortly before Christmas that year, missing most of the remainder of the season, and then found himself frozen out of the team by head coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst for the first half of the 2024-25 season.

Van Bronckhorst was replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in January 2025, but despite featuring for them for much of the second half of the season, he doesn't appear to be in the Norwegian's plans.

Oxlade-Chamberlain is unlikely to come cheap in terms of wages. Capology estimate his earnings at Besiktas to be around £70,000-a-week, so he would likely have to take a wage cut to play for Chris Davies.

Matching his Besiktas wage would be a huge financial outlay for Birmingham - it would make him one of the estimated ten best-paid players in the Championship - and there may well be plenty of cannier ways in which they can spend their money before the summer transfer window closes.