According to ESPN, Wenger could not be happier with the way Oxlade-Chamberlain is performing after recovering from his knee injury. The 20 year old has been out for months now and made his last appearance back in September.

Fortunately for the Gunners Oxlade-Chamberlain is a lot better suited to take Walcott’s place then Podolski who was always better when played on the left side of the pitch.

Even if Southampton’s former player has been used as a winger up until now, it seems that Arsenal’s boss sees things differently. Wenger just made a surprising statement in which he pointed out the fact that his player could easily become the next Steven Gerrard. The Frenchman also believes that Oxlade-Chamberlain would be a great solution for Roy Hodgson who has had trouble picking the best players to fill in the midfielders’ position. The youngster has come back in time to hopefully regain full fitness and book his seat on the plane to Brazil and he looks a pretty good bet to do that.

The Gunner was used as a central midfielder back in June against Brazil. Since then Wenger has become a believer that Ox’s future is not in the wide areas of the pitch but rather somewhere in the center.

Even if the Frenchman praised Oxlade-Chamberlain for his accurate long balls and overall technique, he also reminded people that the player is still young and has a lot to learn. Wenger expects his player to reach his full potential sometime close to 2016-2017 and the sky is the limit for the England international.