Arsenal forced to pay £1.4million due to contract clause on star who joined LIV

Arsenal banked £35million when selling Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to Liverpool which remains their biggest sale, but the Gunners had to cough up £1.4m of that fee thanks to a particular contract clause

Arsenal were forced to pay out £1.4million to Southampton upon their sale of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to Liverpool thanks to a creative clause in his contract. The former England international became the Gunners' biggest sale in 2017 – a record that still stands – when he arrived at Anfield in 2017 for an initial £35million, rising to £40m.

The 32-year-old began his career with boyhood club Southampton and spent just one season of his professional career with the Saints before earning a £15m move to the Emirates in 2011.

The financial package was comprised of an initial £12m fee with a further £3m to be paid in possible add-ons. Some of the add-ons were directly related to how much game time the then-teenager would receive in north London.

In Alan Gernon’s 2018 book, The Transfer Market: The Inside Stories, the writer suggested that Oxlade-Chamberlain's initial contract with Arsenal included a clause that would mean the Gunners pay out £10k to the Saints every time he played 20 or more minutes.

Speculation surrounding the clause gained traction as when looking back, Arsene Wenger would regularly bring on the midfielder on from the bench or after the 71st minute of a match. Of Oxlade-Chamberlain's 198 appearances for the club, he only started 115 of them.

The topic was brought up on the That Peter Crouch Podcast in 2024 as the former Liverpool striker and ex-Chelsea midfielder Steve Sidwell were left baffled by the apparent existence of such a clause.

Speaking on the podcast, a perplexed Sidwell said: "Our researchers, is this real? Hold on, every 20 minutes?" Crouch then chimed in and added: "I don’t know if that’s true [but] that is madness."

The clause secured a £1.4m windfall for Southampton as Oxlade-Chamberlain went on to play 20 or more minutes in 85 Premier League fixtures, 25 Champions League ties, 18 FA Cup matches and nine EFL Cup ties in his six years at Arsenal.

The free agent midfielder – who spent two years at Besiktas upon his release from Liverpool in 2023 – will surely be a keen viewer this afternoon when his two former sides in Liverpool and Arsenal go head-to-head at Anfield.

Both teams have won their opening two league fixtures with Mikel Arteta's side top of the table on goal difference following a 1-0 win over Manchester United and a 5-0 comprehensive victory against Leeds United.

Despite matching Arsenal's two wins, the reigning league champions have been more tumultuous in their victories. Kicking off their season with a thrilling 4-2 triumph over Bournemouth, Arne Slot's men followed that up with a last-gasp 3-2 win over Newcastle United, courtesy of Rio Ngumoha's 100th minute winner.

Liverpool are winless against Arsenal in their last six Premier League meetings with their last league victory against the Gunners coming in March 2022. You'd have to go back a year to 2021 when the Reds last emerged victorious against the north London side at Anfield.