Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has grown to become one of Arsenal's most important players in the last 12 months, but just as he is about to realise his potential, he may well depart the club.

Along with Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, the Ox is in the final year of his contract at the Emirates Stadium.

The midfielder, who is 24 next week, hasn't always been a guaranteed starter with the Gunners but since Wenger switched to a Chelsea-esque 3-4-3 formation, Oxlade-Chamberlain has thrived out wide.

Earlier this summer, Liverpool were credited with a strong interest in the former Southampton man, but those rumours have died down as of late with speculation that Philippe Coutinho is destined for Barcelona.

While there aren't many noises coming out of Anfield about a deal, Oxlade-Chamberlain's social media activity might have been a dead giveaway.

The Ox played the full game on Sunday as Arsenal won the Community Shield via a penalty shootout against Chelsea, a game in which he also converted his spot-kick.

On Monday morning, though, the Arsenal man liked a post on Instagram where a fan stated he would be joining Liverpool for £28 million.

The Ox is said to have quickly retracted his 'like' so it no longer appears on his likes list, but the screenshot devils caught him in the act.

As far as boss Arsene Wenger is concerned however, like Sanchez and Ozil, the Ox will be staying put this summer and has a big role to play for the club.

Asked if the England international will be staying, the Arsenal manager replied: ‘Yes. 100%, I expect him to stay.

"No matter the speculation, he will stay."

Wenger said: “I want him to be part of Arsenal football club for the next ten years.

“There has been a lot of speculation about him. I understand that.

“He is a big player and we live in a world where agents are linked to the press and can make the whole package come up."

Oxlade-Chamberlain certainly didn't need his agent to do anything to get the rumour mill going today.