The Hoops boss is set to add the ex-Liverpool and Arsenal midfielder to his ranks over the coming days
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Martin O’Neill has confirmed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is on the verge of joining Celtic – with a medical booked on Saturday.
But the ex-Arsenal and Liverpool star WON’T be included in the club’s Europa League squad. Free agent Oxlade-Chamberlain has agreed a short-term deal with the champions after holding talks with O’Neill.
The 32-year-old hasn’t kicked a competitive ball since quitting Besiktas in May but has been training with the Gunners to keep fit. And O’Neill hopes the 35-times capped England international will add quality to the engine room.
He said: “I spoke to him this morning. I think he wants to come and I think he’s coming.
“I would have assumed he’s had a number of options. I think there was even talk that Arsenal might take him on because they might pick up a couple of injuries.
“So I’m delighted that he’s going to come. I think he’s doing a medical and all being well, I’m hoping that he signs on.”
Former Celtic hero Joe Hart helped sell the Hoops to his former England teammate.
But O’Neill said: “I think the football club itself probably has convinced him more than anything else.
“If indeed it is convincing. We might be having this conversation in 36 hours and he might come up here, see what the weather’s like and disappear back down again quite easily! There are a few who have done that in the past!”
Oxlade-Chamberlain – a Premier League and Champions League winner with Liverpool – has been without a club since packing his bags in Turkey this summer.
O’Neill understands concerns over the midfielder’s fitness but said: “I think that the people who have said that are absolutely entitled to that opinion.
“From a distance, I might have thought about that myself. But he’s here until the end of the season so he can quickly get up to speed with games.
“He’s been training, if everything is to be believed, with Arsenal. Well, at this minute Arsenal are one of the strongest teams in Europe.
“So if he’s training with high-quality players, it can only be a benefit to him.
Celtic manager Martin O’Neill(Image: SNS Group)
“If they even thought about taking him on as a backup, probably not playing for them at any stage because they’ve got so many good players, it says a lot about him.
“He’s got a bit of quality. It’s whether he has the fitness and the desire.
“I think the desire should be there. It’s a matter of how quickly he gets up to speed.”
Oxlade-Chamberlain wasn’t signed in time for Thursday’s Europa League squad registration deadline.
O’Neill drafted in January loan signings Julian Araujo, Tomas Cvancara and Junior Adamu – with Callum Osmand, Michel-Ange Balikwisha and Johnny Kenny dropping out for the two-legged tie with Stuttgart.
He added: “I think there might be a bit of a disappointment there from Alex’s viewpoint, wanting to show what he can do in the European stage.
“But, you know, we had to press on. But if he can get up to speed, I do believe that he has got the desire, he wants to do well.
“He’s 32, which is, in this day and age, really no age whatsoever for players who look after themselves.”
Meanwhile, O’Neill hopes a peace deal can finally be brokered between protesting fans and the board after interim chairman Brian Wilson agreed to meet the Green Brigade and other supporter groups.
Thousands of punters are set to boycott tonight’s Scottish Cup clash with Dundee in a demonstration of how the club is being run.
O’Neill said: “Well, naturally, it’s not a great thing.
“I thought that way back when I was managing my very first time here, there was a great togetherness. Hence 75,000 fans descending on Seville for the final.
“Those things are gone. It’s a new era. And what I would like, if it’s at all possible, if there were some meetings, which I think Mr Wilson said was going to take place, which is really, that’s a big step forward.
“And I think he said himself, we might not agree with everything, but let’s find out. Let’s find out what all the ailments are and let’s see if we can rectify some of them. Because going forward, the club will trip itself up if that’s the case.
“Celtic have always prided themselves in a sort of togetherness. And it is strange really for it to be in this shape. So we do need the fans in.”