The accidental announcement of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s Liverpool transfer left the unfortunate culprit thinking he was “finished”.
Oxlade-Chamberlain made the £35million move from Arsenal in 2017 after becoming disillusioned in north London following his switch to wing-back by Arsene Wenger.
The opportunity to play in his favoured position of central midfield under Jurgen Klopp proved to be an enticing one for the England man, who wrapped up the deal as he joined his Three Lions team-mates at St George’s Park.
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Unfortunately for the Reds, an official announcement confirming Oxlade-Chamberlain’s signing was slightly spoiled after Raheem Sterling’s barber, Sheldon Edwards, inadvertently recorded the 30-year-old sporting the Liverpool colours.
Edwards, who is more commonly known as HD Cutz, is one of the premier barbers in the world of football, having serviced the likes of Jude Bellingham, Karim Benzema, Paul Pogba, Erling Haaland.
Speaking on Reach’s new Euro Thrash podcast – which you can find in YouTube, Apple and Spotify – Edwards said: “I thought it was over for me in the England camp. When I was just coming up with social media, I went to the England camp and was like ‘wow, I’m really here’ at St George’s Park.
“My boy Raheem Sterling took me in there, many years ago. I was new to social media and I was going up the lift and was doing a Snapchat, ‘I’m at St. George’s’ and all that. There was a player at the lift and it was Oxlade-Chamberlain, so I put my phone up, said ‘there’s a player, it’s Oxlade-Chamberlain’.
“I put my phone down, went into the room and security was like ‘make sure you’re not putting that thing up’. I went into the room with Raheem and then Oxlade-Chamberlain comes in saying ‘what did you do?!’ I was the one who announced that he had signed for Liverpool. At the lift, he was wearing the Liverpool kit, but he was still at Arsenal.
“I didn’t know. These are the sort of things that happened over time which helped me to understand the position which I am in and the responsibility I’ve got for the players. Trust, respect and understanding is what they expect of me and they know that I have got their back.
“I thought I was finished. I did not sleep that night. I thought I was going to be banned from the England camp forever. I was on the come up and I thought this was the come down and I’m finished. They gave me the reassurance afterwards and Raheem told me it was cool and helped me get over that. I was gone, I was stressed.”
Edwards is currently launching his HD Cutz Academy, and has been hard at work at Euro 2024, where he has tended to several of England’s stars in Germany, as well as like of Real Madrid star David Alaba and ex-Manchester United midfielder Marcel Sabitzer of Austria.
Watch and listen to Euro Thrash on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify with regular new episodes throughout Euro 2024