10 Boyhood Arsenal Fans The Gunners Should Have Signed
5. Reece Oxford
What must have been running through Reece Oxford’s mind when he stepped out onto the Emirates turf on the opening day of last season, entrusted with the job of shackling Mesut Ozil?
The-then 16-year-old, making his league debut for the Hammers, played 79 minutes and kept the German remarkably quiet, earning rave reviews as the nation sat up and took notice. And this kid was supposed to be a centre-half. Even his giddy post-match interview, devoid of barren clichés, was refreshing and disarming in its’ youthful honesty, claiming that he ‘couldn’t wait’ to watch himself on Match of the Day that night.
What makes the story even more romantic is that he was doing it against his boyhood club - Oxford may have spent the last five years on the books of West Ham, and before that Tottenham, but his allegiances lie with Arsenal.
The boy who was set the task of marking the slippery World Cup winner had actually championed the German’s signing, taking to Twitter in 2013 to urge the Gunners to hurry up and sign him.
“ForF***Sake Arsenal Something always Doesn’t go right Hurry up and sign Ozil !!” - Reece Oxford, August 2015.
The England u-17 international may yet end up at Arsenal, such is Arsene Wenger’s penchant for signing the hot, young talent on the market.
He is sure to be some player… but perhaps needs to tone down the social media outrage.