Joel Campbell believes he’s got what it takes to become part of Arsenal’s frontline next season.
After a season on loan at Lorient, having not been granted a work permit last summer, the Costa Rican forward will join Arsenal for pre-season during which time he’ll have to convince Arsene Wenger he’s ready to become part of the first team.
Speaking to Arsenal Player, Joel spoke about the qualities he can bring to the Arsenal side, saying, “I think I can bring a lot of things to the Arsenal attack – I can contribute goals and assists.”
Despite being just 19 years of age, he’s not short of confidence, having gained a lot from his spell on loan in Ligue 1.
“I want people to see what I can do. I always think big, so I want to go to Arsenal and play as many games as possible. I have to give everything I’ve got, train hard and have faith in my abilities, to never doubt them and keep moving forward.
“I have learned how to live with other people in a different country to mine, to be here living life outside football, to learn about the training and the intensity of the game in Ligue 1. That’s all helped me to learn things so I can continue my football career with Arsenal, and I hope that’s going to happen.”
And his main ambition?
“To play for Arsenal next year. I think I’ve got the ability to do it. I’ve got every confidence in my ability to go to Arsenal and play.”
According to Arsenal.com journalist Nick Ames, who traveled to Lorient to interview Campbell, the youngster showed some real quality but still has much to learn, so another loan spell wouldn’t be a surprise. However, Lorient boss Christian Gourcuff was quite prepared to throw him into the side at the end of a season during which they battled relegation, so perhaps there’s encouragement in that.
Campbell, whose father Glen was a lineman for the county, will be looking to drive the main road right to the Emirates next season.
Tim Vickery, who has watched him for a while, said last summer that he’s very exciting. A bit of risk – not quite sure why, I got the impression it’s a character thing and he’s been a shade headstrong – but an interesting risk with one of the sweetest left feet in the universe.
I would say the risk being that once he made his name at Arsenal he could cause us some problems with wage demands/ wanting to move on etc. i got that impression when we were initially going to sign him and he didnt show up to the meeting.
although the kid definitley has some potential….. the goal he scored against the spanish national side was a cracker. Id like to see alot more of Afobe though.
This kids got something special.His movement is brilliant as is his skill,like a young Samuel Eto’oI honestly believe he is currently good enough to be our 3rd choice striker if RVP stays and Poldi plays LW.Although we would then need a solid second striker as well.
One year loan in EPL. There’s absolutely no downside to that. Lorient may play like Arsenal – and I have tremendous respect for what Gourcuff has done there – but they’re a mid table team in the 5th best league in Europe. Agree with Miranda on the personality thing. Do you remember the weeks it took to buy him last summer – with him not showing up to meet Dick Law and all that? Gilbertosilver documented it well – and I remember feeling peeved that a youngster playing in the Costa Rican league would play hard ball with Arsenal. Especially… Read more »
Fuck Norwich after their players played like Stoke. I’d prefer him to go to Swansea, decent amount of respect for them for playing the way they do with what they have.
Agree with you about everything else though =]
Send him to Swansea or to newly promoted Southampton. Either would be a great squad to get some playing time.
No problem, Frimpong will soon sort him out. And if he’s headstrong on the pitch and likes to do his own his own thing, that’s not a big issue either with us since Wenger doesn’t go in for rigid tactical discipline.
Frimpong’s too busy selling T-shirts and coming up with ridiculous words like deench or whatever the fuck it is.
5th best league a bit harsh maybe.
English, Spanish, Italian and German leagues are all better
6th in european ranking actually portugal league are 5th now
I like this kid but he hasn’t played in any of the english leagues yet, tink it would be better if he had a season on loan probably in the championship because he would get more time. However I can see him playing as a 3rd striker but I would rather have afobe and him on loan
Any striker playing for the arsenal should be able to score goals. That’s just it. No this, no that just score the fucking goals!!.
Have you considered a career in football management?
He is already in managment as told by his username “fatcunt” also known as “SAM ALLARDYCE”
No I actually think Xav might be the allardyce your looking for. His replies are always cunt-ish. I am just a guy with a fat personality.
I definitely want to see him playing some in the preseason games. Exciting young player as someone mentioned in the vein of Eto’o. Lets hope his development continues in the right way and his mind stays focused.
Looks like the great dane may have a rival in the self confidence department.
Have no problem with self confidence as long as it doesn’t evolve into self worship.
hahahah good one
Not good enough yet in my opinion. He looks like he could be an absolute gem in a couple of years time but his performances for liorent suggest he’s not quite ready yet. 23 games and only 3 goals. Send him on loan to reading and see how he develops.
3 goals may not seem a lot but their leading scorer only got 5!
considering he came on from the bench for most of the matches…He proves his quality everytime he plays for Costa Rica around better players
its 4 goals and i think 5 assists, not bad at all for 10 starts, the rest were subs, plus lorient was fighting relegation which makes it harder to justify experimenting with loan players, but he still started regularly in the end which bodes very well. I feel that people that say he’s ‘not good enough’ probably havent seen him play enough, or don’t know much about the sport because the kid is a Monster, he’s got explosive pace, is strong, works hard, and can pick a pass, all around one of the best 19 yr old strikers out there.… Read more »
I believe he has a few more years before he can get a work permit, much less break into the Arsenal first team, and then (having watched him play) deserve to be compared even remotely to Samuel Eto’o.
Actually he has been playing regularly for the national team for about a year, the permit should be no problem this time around.
I read somewhere ,he needs to play like 4 more matches for Costa rica to get the work permit , or they could just give the special talent one
tim…he reminds me of van p…
Nicky Bee wil have with him a guy 2 rival with, dat is if he is not sold. World best striker, so confident. Hope his wud not be like dat of Benthner who was given so many time/chances. And 4 Park and Chamakh, if dey wud not be sold, den dey shud be loaned 2 a very strong, physical and competitive club like swansea (D best average team in EPL), Norwich, W. Brom, stoke, Fulham and even West Ham. How far with Diaby? Dat guy is gud 2 be sold/let go. We can’t even win the league cup bcos of… Read more »
Eh? Which language is that? I’ll lob it into Google Translate.
English, motherfucker. Do. You. Speak. It?
Say what again
I dare you. I triple dare you.
Can’t this guy spell THE or THAT properly?
How fucking LAZY is that????!!!!
Just saw the d’s, 4’s and 2’s and thats a thumb down for you sir, thankyou very much
No one else gonna comment on the Glenn Campbell joke? No? Oh well, best get back to Gavelston.
Thank fuck someone got it
Blogs, of the many years I’ve been reading your work, that last line elicited the biggest groan even. I got it but it was a painful pun
I got it, I got it. But for politeness sake I chose not to comment!
Just read a comment on another site regarding the RVP situation.He said that he’s leaving and that the club are going to announce it after the euros to weaken the blow we’ll feel.The more i think about it,it seems to make sense unfortunately.Why does summer have to be so fucking depressing for us gunners?!?its supposed to be the best time of the year.I blame John cunting terry
If u read it in some other blog keep it to that blog itself no point in bringing it over here.
Any sources for this or just someone on the Internet saying something? Honesty there’s absolutely no need to get depressed about a situation that may or may not happen!
It was just a comment on another news site,can’t remember which.All the thumbs down may signify that people don’t agree,but with past summer experiences i thought that there is a legitimate possibility of the aforementioned scenario occurring.Not that i want it to,i pray night and day that RVP stays but i was just trying to show my frustration at the fact that twats like Citeh Chelski have so much money as bargaining power that we’re left stressing which of our players will be next.God i miss it when we were the best.Here’s hoping we win some cups next season.Dortmund and… Read more »
“A comment on another news site” is like saying one of us just pulled the comment out of our arse to say…
Football transfer rumors are a lot like the political season here in the States. “Some people say…” ala Faux News. Its just people speaking to their own bias or fear most of the time. The fact that Arsenal do nothing to actually quell this sort of speech is what really irks me, not that halfwits go on repeating everything they read on the internet.
Which site? A reliable one or one of the ones renowned for posting shit to get clicks? I’d be curious to know what its source is since Dutch journalists think he hasn’t yet made up his mind. They’re also unanimous in saying (1) that from the way he and his wife have been talking it’s obvious that Arsenal is dear to their hearts; (2) he’s never been fussed about money so the wages aren’t what will determine his decision; far more likely he’s waiting to see what players we buy.
Stop reading People who thing they know everything, if it happens it happens fuck it. Fools will always be fools
Think
How about citing the blog so we can evaluate it ourselves? Or are you just starting a rumor to rile the Arsenal faithful?
No matter how depressing the rvp situation
Maybe, the lineman for his county still made me chuckle. . Brilliant.
Off topic…..but can the articles on this site please refrain from referring to our new home as the “Emirates”?
Thanking you in advance.
So they should refrain from calling ‘The Emirates’ (as that’s the name due to the sponsorship) ‘The Emirates’ even though that’s it’s name until the sponsorship is up? Glad I got that cleared up…..
The name of the stadium is The Emirates. And can a ground we’ve been playing at for over half a decade really be said to be new?
I’m just waiting for his brief purple patch land his ‘I’ll wait till the summer to discuss a new contract’ before he fucks off to any club willing to pay him in the most. Call me cynical, but he’s got a bit of the Nasri about him this one.
What is a lineman?
Its a position in American football, I do believe… like offensive lineman.
as the resident american, its a position in american football where the big fat guy protects the guy who throws the ball.
Someone from Witchita?
Robbie Fowler?
Something they had back in the days of dial phones.
I always preferred “Dreams of the Everyday Housewife”
Loved the latest arsecast btw. nearly pissed myself in the butchers
Maybe he’s good enough and he turns out at a young age to be like Anelka was for us… Minus the bitchiness and leaving ofcourse!
Back on goalkeeping noticed that Brad Guzan has been released.Looked good
when Given was injured.Good back up
and hes amuricahn
He had only played a few games (with 0 goals) in the Costa Rican league before we bought him, so I imagine our interest stemmed purely from his work with the national team (at U17, U20, and senior levels), for which he has garnered 22 goals in 32 games. I didn’t watch a single Lorient game this season, so I can’t speak with any real knowledge, but based on the clips I’ve watched youtube, he’s nothing special at all. I’m still baffled as to why we bought him, and why we spent so much effort to get him when far… Read more »
Thats cause you’re an idiot. Simple
Whereas you have brought what to the table apart from a throwaway insult?
Unless you have some special insight, my opinion is as valid as yours, Ilya. But don’t let that stop you from acting like a child!
So, unlike our scouts, you haven’t actually seen him play except in clips and so have no real visual input but in your opinion he’s “nothing special”.
Can I ask what job you do at Arsenal to determine a players potential and current ability?
Oh wow you really got me there! Fuck! I should have made the caveat that I wasn’t basing it on any real knowledge… Oh wait! I did? Oh, then maybe I should have prefaced my judgment by saying that I was genuinely confused as to why we bought Campbell? Oh wait… I did? Next time, why not enlighten me instead of insulting me. I’d love to know why the fuck we bought Campbell. Love to. Can you enlighten me? Because–as I said, remember–I don’t know, because–as I said, remember–I’m basing my judgment on very little indeed, though–as I said, remember–I’m… Read more »
By the way, Cygan, I’ve seen you use the “Can I ask what job you do at Arsenal…etc.” retort several times on this site.
Why not change the record, yeah? You’re a one-trick pony. May I ask what job you do blah blah blah
I don’t do any job for Arsenal. I’m a committed fan of the club, and I want the club to succeed. I thought we spent a lot of time on Campbell last summer when there were much more pressing concerns. For some reason that caused you to pull out your bog standard insult.
I am interested to see where youth development goes if we continue without trophies. Fans have the tendency to get all excited about a guy like this, who could have great potential, but then are quick to yell about not signing a world class player. I am really wondering if Wenger can not take risks like that of Fabregas when he was young now that the fans are so aware of the word “youth.” I am a fan of stay the course, I want to win a title our way instead of buying it with oil crusted hands
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Nicklas Bendtner’s long-lost brother me thinks.
I doubt Ian wright was any less cocky at that age. Ita good to see in a striker. You make the assumption then that the manager can mould him into a complete player, ala Ferguson and the fiery Rooney. Would love to see him go on loan to the prem so we can get a better look at him.
Ian Wright was pretty old when we signed him and had been around the block. And he has never been anything other than cocky as long as anyone can remeber. If you use Wrighty as an example then we should ONLY ever sign cocky strikers
Comparing me to fat allardyce are you?, thanks I feel so much better now…….NOT!
Good thing I dont breath through my mouth and drool when my team scores……
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0FSyOJEdBA
I remember watching this video last year when we signed him and was pretty impressed. You can see why Wenger has had his eye on him.
Video name… talk about putting pressure on a kid!
Campbell has awesome skill so let’s just hope he can transfer it into the EPL.
Between him and the kid from Streetfighter the future’s looking good.
Well, hustles the name of the game and nice guys can get washed away like the snow and the rain, but with a load of compromisin’ on the road to his horizon, I can see the lights shinin’ on Joel.