Southampton’s captain, Jose Fonte, says he’s spoken to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain about returning to the club he left in 2011.

The then 16 year old was a summer purchase, and made his debut in the 8-2 spanking at Old Trafford. Since then injury problems and an inability to nail down a specific position have hindered his progress at Arsenal, and speculation over his future is rife at the moment.

Much of that is down to his agent and the fact he’ll have just 2 years left of his current deal this summer. It’s a pivotal time for player and club, which is why the links to Southampton, West Ham and both Manchester clubs have been popping up.

Fonte admitted he’d had a conversation with his former teammate about going back to St Mary’s, but said he didn’t get much in the way of encouragement.

“I know how good he is,” Fonte told Just Football. “We played together when he was only 15 or 16. So I’ve known him for a long time, And I am not going to lie: we talked about it [going back].

“I asked him, I spoke to him, I am good friends with him. I want the best for him but what can I say? He’s an Arsenal player. He’s happy there.

“He has the quality to be a star player at Arsenal but what I mean is we would love to have him we want to put a team out to fight for trophies, to fight in European competitions, why not?

“He knows he has a place in our hearts and he knows that anytime he wants a place in Southampton he has it. We are going in the right path. We want to achieve better and bigger things. So it’s up to him.”

And, you know, up to Arsenal. But let’s not let that get in the way of anything.