Some dubious names and figures have been employed by Liverpool; one player has failed to live up to the millions of dollars he earned there.

 

After finishing outside the top four the previous season, Liverpool is making good progress again, most of which can be ascribed to manager Jurgen Klopp’s team’s successful summer transfer window.

The Reds had a laborious trade window because they welcomed Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister at the beginning of the trade window, closing most of their deals early.

While other teams appeared to be active, the Reds had a quiet spell in the transfer market. However, Klopp made a wise addition by bringing in the two midfielders, who have both already paid for their arrival by playing well for Anfield.

In the red part of Merseyside, business hasn’t always been as cutthroat as seen by one of the agreements approved to bring in a certain player who ended his six-year stint at Liverpool this summer.

When was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain signed by Liverpool?

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, a former Arsenal star who moved to Merseyside after six years in north London, was confirmed as a new acquisition by the Reds in the summer of 2017.

To the Gunners’ delight, the then-24-year-old was purchased for a sum of £35 million, with the possibility of an increase to £40 million based on appearance-related add-ons.

The Englishman had just one year left on his Arsenal contract at the time of his departure, so the £35 million acquisition was a good one for those at the Emirates for a player whose spot in the starting lineup was far from assured.

What was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s goal total?

 

Journalist Miguel Delaney once called Oxlade-Chamberlain “awful” when he departed Arsene Wenger’s team with just 20 goals in 198 games and nine Premier League goals in 132 league matches.

For a team as “on the up” as Liverpool, agreeing to spend money on a flexible striker who wasn’t particularly successful was a strange arrangement, but it soon became clear that Klopp considered the winger’s role as secondary.

 

The five-foot-eleven threat appeared to be settling well with Liverpool at first, as he was allowed to roam freely and slotted into central midfield.

Oxlade-Chamberlain’s first Premier League season at Anfield saw him contribute to ten goals with three goals and seven assists in 32 appearances, suggesting that the positional shift was effective.

In the summer of 2023, the Portsmouth-born wizard left Liverpool with a far from impressive goal total of 18 in 146 games, but he had softened the rough aspects of his game that Arsenal had not been able to control.

What was the cost to Liverpool of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain?

The misunderstood England international’s failure to stay fit was the main aspect of his game; throughout his six-year tenure at Liverpool, he missed around 600 days of play, or little less than two years of availability.

The Englishman’s goal total somewhat increased, but his progress was severely impeded by his ongoing struggle with injuries and subsequent fall in the rankings.

Liverpool was severely impacted financially by the entire situation surrounding the now-30-year-old’s tenure at Anfield, even if his regrettable injury problems were entirely out of his control.

All told, the Reds had to shell out about £68 million to cover the midfield player’s salary during his six-year contract, which came with a £35 million price tag.

The former Arsenal misfit was paid £4.1 million annually when he first joined, and that figure rose to £6.2 million when he signed a contract extension in 2019—a weekly salary of £120,000—through Capology.

Was Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s pay really so high?

Putting aside the fact that the midfielder was a charming character on Merseyside despite his frustrating moments, his presence and inability to obtain regular game time made his pay bill and price tag impossible to justify.

It is frightening to read that the Englishman earned around £1.8 million for each goal he scored during his six-year tenure at Liverpool, when his £33 million salary is divided by the number of goals he scored.

After Oxlade-Chamberlain made nine appearances in the 2022–2023 season, it was decided this summer not to renew his contract. As a result, he left as a free agent when his £120k–per–week contract expired.

The 30-year-old’s current worth, which is €6.2m (£5.3m), illustrates his deterioration over time as he begins a new chapter in his Besiktas career.

The midfield player left with two medals—one from the Champions League and one from the Premier League—to go along with his 18 goals scored, and Liverpool is still assessing the value of his expenditure.

What are the earnings of other Liverpool players?

Even if Oxlade-Chamberlain’s chapter is ended, the Reds still have a few high-earners on staff who don’t do much on the field.

Based on wage payments from the previous season, the Englishman was among the top ten earners at Liverpool, with another dubious name on the lucrative list.

Like Oxlade-Chamberlain, Thiago Alcantara hasn’t had much of an impact at Anfield even though he’s currently one of the team’s highest paid players.

The Spaniard earns an astounding £200k a week on Merseyside, but since joining the team for £25 million from Bayern Munich three years ago, he has only made 97 appearances in all competitions.

Despite making 18 Premier League appearances in the previous season—just nine more than Oxlade-Chamberlain—the 32-year-old is still Klopp’s third-highest earning at £10.4 million annually.

As he completes the fourth and final year of his contract with the Reds, the two-time Champions League winner and seven-time Bundesliga winner will make a total of £41.6 million in salaries alone. When his transfer fee is taken into account, the entire cost will come to almost £66 million.

Despite this, Thiago has actually cost Liverpool less than Oxlade-Chamberlain did while he was a member of the team. He has also been involved in two of the most taxing and infuriating trades in the current Anfield roster.

The 30-year-old ended his career in his own country by departing England, having played for Southampton, Arsenal, and Liverpool throughout a 13-year professional tenure that yielded 48 goals and £50.8 million in salary alone.

Overall, the midfielder from Portsmouth did not have a significant impact at either club and left Anfield having spent millions of money on the Reds and received little in return.