LONDON -- Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said he will fight to keep Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain after the midfielder said he would consider a move unless he gets more playing time.
Oxlade-Chamberlain has struggled to lock down a starting spot and fallen behind Alex Iwobi in the pecking order.
On Sunday, he said he would weigh up his options at the end of the season if his playing time did not increase. But Wenger said the 23-year-old, who joined from Southampton when he was 17, would get his chance and added: "I can understand, yes.
"On the other hand, when you buy a young player at 17 years of age and you spend a lot of money, you would like him to stay at the club.
"I think his place is here. We like him, I personally rate him as a player and I hope that he will show that he can have a stable position in the team until the end of the season."
Wenger said he believed Oxlade-Chamberlain could make a similar impact to that of Theo Walcott, who has rediscovered top form this season and scored seven goals in all competitions.
"He is similar to Walcott this season. He has not been rewarded yet, but he is in a similar position because he has worked really hard," he said.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is one of several Arsenal players whose contract is up for negotiation this season, although the club's priorities are to extend the deals of Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez.
Both Ozil and Sanchez are reported to be asking for wages in excess of £200,000-a-week, which would force the Gunners to break their relatively conservative wage structure.
They have two years left on their contracts, but Wenger said: "When you sign a contract for four years, you sign for two years, for the simple fact that just to keep the value of the player you have to extend the contract. So it's a little bit illogical."
Wenger spent several seasons struggling to keep hold of top stars as Arsenal refused to match the salaries of rivals while they were burdened with heavy debt on the Emirates stadium. But both manager and club have said those shackles are off and that Arsenal are not a selling club.
"These kinds of players [Ozil and Sanchez], they can rise a little bit above the financial aspects of the game because they are not poor," Wenger said.
"They have to look really on the football side. Do they meet their needs at the club on the football front? If yes, every single Premier League club can find an agreement with the players.
"But we still keep our values that we have at the club -- we pay what we can afford."