Rumours circled for the last year or so about the destination of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s future. The Southampton youth academy talent – another shining star that they have produced, to add to the list of fantastic players in recent years – was linked with Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal over the last few months, but it is Arsenal who have finally captured the youngster. Since he burst onto the scene Oxlade-Chamberlain has been hyped by the media, but now the media frenzy is set to get even worse. Let’s hope they don’t destroy his chances of making it, given how many other young players have suffered the same fate.

Chamberlain is just 17, which is a very tender age, and he needs to be looked after well. Arsenal was the youngster’s preferred choice, and given their ability at bringing through young talent it seems a wise one. He is the same age as Theo Walcott was when he was prematurely selected for the World Cup and placed under huge degrees of pressure as the media declared him England’s next big star. Walcott has shown flashes of brilliance since, but not to the extent to which he was hyped by the media, which is why the press need to be careful not to place unreasonable expectations and pressure on a young player’s shoulders.

Chamberlain is slightly different to Walcott in some ways as he has been plying his trade in the lower divisions more regularly and for longer than Walcott did, he even managed to get into the PFA League One Team of the Year, so the hype surrounding him is not completely without foundation. Southampton themselves did a very good job of making sure his early progress was low key, not mentioning him to local media or hyping him up, but quietly integrating him into the side. Of course once you see the player, it is easy to get carried away because of the talent he possesses, but we have to remember that he is just 17, and declaring him the saviour of the nation, or its next big star is not going to be something helpful to his development. It could build up unreasonable expectations within the player’s mind, and negatively effect his progression. The worst thing would be for the player to believe his own hype, and think that he’s world class before he is. However, he does seem to have the right sort of people around him to keep him grounded, and not get too carried away.

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Oxlade-Chamberlain needs to be given time to develop, and if the hype gets too much, and he is too built up, then he is unlikely to get that. Fans will likely get frustrated and have too high expectations, if he is constantly hailed by the media, but slow to impress on the pitch. People will be quick to take him down if he gets into the Arsenal side and fails to make an immediate impression. There will simply be no patience if the tabloid journalists continue to over-hype him. For Oxlade-Chamberlain, the best move could even be a loan back to Southampton for another year, as he needs to be playing regularly to aid his development. and it could take him out of some of the sharp media spotlight for a while.

In England it seems that any remotely half-decent footballer is hyped to extraordinary extents, and when they fail to live up to these unreasonable expectations they are seen as a failure. So many youngsters who have gone before have failed to live up to their billing by the media. Players like Danny Cadamarteri, Neil Mellor, and Jody Morris, were all hugely hyped and proclaimed as the next big thing, yet all slipped into the relative obscurity of the lower leagues. Perhaps these players weren’t cut out for top flight football, but it is more likely that they struggled to cope with the pressure placed upon them by the British media.

To overhype a young player is simply not fair, but it seems it’s now an ingrained feature of our national media. Given how many players have fallen by the way-side before, here’s hoping the press don’t destroy Chamberlain by overhyping him. It’s not fair on the player, and he needs to be given the best opportunity to maximise his talents and develop away from the harsh media spotlight. Otherwise he could be just another talent who fails to live up to his potential.

Let me know your thoughts on the press hype surrounding Oxlade-Chamberlain by commenting below. Follow me on Twitter @LaurenRutter for more debate.