Arsene Wenger says he’ll make a decision over Joel Campbell’s future in the summer but admits he could be tempted to include the Costa Rican striker in his Arsenal plans next season.
The 21-year-old, who now has the requisite paperwork to play in England, hasn’t featured for the Gunners since signing in 2011 embarking instead on loan spells at Lorient, Real Betis and current side Olympiakos.
Two days after watching the attacker score a stunning Champions League goal for the Greek club against Manchester United, the boss offered Campbell encouragement admitting he appears to have got to grips with European football.
“He was good, convincing going forward. He looks like he has adapted better to the physical side of the European game.
“We knew always that he had the talent to create something special, [perhaps] he relied a bit too much on that.
“He’s now been out at three different clubs, he was at Lorient, he was in Seville with Real Betis and now at Olympiakos and he has learnt the toughness of the European leagues.
“I will decide [on his future] later. Why not? We bought him to bring him here.”
Several clubs, including Olympiakos, are thought to be keen on signing Campbell on a permanent basis, but if he keeps knocking in the goals in Greece he’s certainly giving the boss something to think about.
The curl on his goal against United was crazy. Or Henry-esque, should I say?
Didn’t Park score a Henryesque goal for us before?
That was only against Bolton.
Although Campbell’s was only against Man Utd…
Bolton > Man Utd.
He looks like a top prospect. And with Bendtner probably/hopefully/somehow leaving, he’ll be and upgrade definitely something different to what we have.
I’m surprised people are just noticing Campbell now…he did score two goals against the world champions Spain.
He also scored a belter against Barcelona while at Betis, scored against Italy (apparently; dont know about this one). So he seems to know how to score vs the big guns.. Anyway I relly hope he gets the opportunity to show what he can do with us since he certainly has the talent. And I’m not saying this because of his goal vs MU (I didn’t see the game btw) but I’ve been watching some of his games since he was at Lorient and I’ve always thought he had something to offer in this Arsenal team. The way he goes… Read more »
And I have to admit I was kind of shocked when Blogs seemed to insinuate that Ryo was not sent on loan because he might be a better player. Well I certainly wish we had Campbell right now instead. Ryo is not even performing in the reserves!
Next years forwards…Giroud, Sanogo,Campbell….eeek
whose the idiot that disliked this comment.
Wasn’t me
This is one of the special reasons why i keep on loving and respecting AW. i hope both Joel and Yaya will establish themselves in the first team squad for the coming years.For now let’s concentrate on our season and try to win a trophy.
come on you gunnersssssssssssssss
In two minds, it would be great if he plays for arsenal. But that diving performance against the US was pretty awful
One swan does not a suarez make..
But hey lets hope he never makes it at our club because he did a suarez/owen/rooney/ronaldo against the USA.
I remember Jenkinson diving terribly in a match against Chelsea, but haven’t seen him try to pull the same stunt since. I believe Arsene drills those diving instincts out of the players
I remember Pat Vieira taking an outrageous dive against then mugsmashers
In fairness, this wasn’t an embellishment of contact in the box or anything. This was full-on cheating in a big match. And I’m still pissed about it. It’s going to take a lot more than scoring a goal on loan to win me back over. I expect better from an Arsenal player.
Here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A3D8JVS1kQ
yeah .. it was also Once
and you can’t know the entire dynamics of the incidence… the provocation etc.
and he is only a young man. they sometime make mistakes and learn not to do it again.
Its hardly a pattern.
And if i can love thierry henry after the double handball against ireland in the WC playoffs then you can love joel campbell
He’s completely welcome to win me back over. As an Arsenal player, I hope he does. But right now all I’ve got to go on are a couple nice goals on loan and one of the most unsportsmanlike and classless acts I’ve ever seen in sports. As my sample size increases, hopefully he’ll do a bunch of great stuff that pushes this out of my mind.
And not for nothing, but if he was, say, a Montenegrin under contract with Spurs and he did this against England, you all would be crucifying him.
Looks quite lightweight, and could probably use some Sanogo-esque beefing up, but the boy’s clearly got something. A better option than Ryo at the moment, at least.
we could do with someone who’s worked out how to score against the scum.
Before the match even started, I predicted he would fuck up United. I think it’s a good idea to bring him back next season. With podolski maybe leaving along with myachi, the box possibly moving into the center. This will be a good addition to the squad.
I predicted it too. When we first signed him Tim Vicary (whose judgement I trust – never known him to be wrong on South and Central American young players) said that he’s a bit of a risk (erratic temperament apparently), but a fantastically exciting risk with an amazing left foot who could be a very big bargain if he sorts himself out. We’ve now seen quite a bit of the amazing left foot, and it looks like his character has settled down too – he’s been a hard worker at Olympiakos. Hope it works out. Some cover for Walcott is… Read more »
i wasnt happy at dicky law pissing about in costa rica chasing fake agents , but the guy looks good. lol the amount of cards he gets could make him the next viera
The ox*
With podolski maybe leaving along with the ox???
O.o
no, the ox moving into centre mid, so we will be missing another wide player
Get him back! At least we would have some options upfront. Summer tranfer Window can’t come quick enough. The future is bright,exciting times indeed.
Chill out and enjoy the season first maybe? We are after all in a title race and in the quarter finals of the FA Cup!
I would with all this going on the summer transfer window and all the bullshit it provides can fuck off!
Agreed – talking about summer transfers is literally equivalent to saying “our team isn’t good enough.” Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but there’s nothing anyone can do to change the squad now. And it certainly isn’t our job to play ‘manager’ either. Saying things like “it’d be nice to have Draxler,” and then criticizing Wenger for not getting one of the most overpriced and sought after young talents in the world is honestly a waste of time.
Henry-esque indeed
Check him out on you tube
I’m excited about this. Our attacking future looks pretty strong, with Campbell, Sanogo, Akpom, etc.
An Arsenal player prepared to shoot from 25 yards, that would be a novelty.
I think if you read between the lines of Le Prof’s speech, you will realise that he has already made his mind up to bring back Joel in the summer
” We bought him to bring him here.” Another Wengerism
If he scores goals regularly, he’s need back,asap.
He doesnt tho.
Score goals.
He plays right wing and so you have to ask is he better than Theo, The OX and Gnabry.
Maybe wenger will think he is.
Or maybe he plays through the middle and then you have to ask – is he better than giroud, podolski, theo, sanogo, nikky b
maybe he is –
But that comparison has to be done against the critical backdrop of how wenger sets up his team – not only is he better – is he better playing wengerball
Dont panic.
Arsene Knows.
From what little one can gather in terms of youtube videos, the game against united and so on, I think he has more promise than the usually hyped loanee/youth player. Only time will tell if he´s got what it takes to be an Arsenal star (take Reyes as an example – huge potential but failed) but the potential is there for certain. It seems to me this kid has pretty good pace, dribbling skills and trickery, vision and intelligence, great crosses and has great shooting technique (remember so had Thierry but he didnt start scoring regurarly until a few years… Read more »
Cannot believe you are talking about this kid in the same paragraph as Henry..
I confidently predict that this lad will not make it big at Arsenal. He cannot be that good to be at 3 clubs in 3 years. Playing in Greece! Do me a favour.
The current team is pretty close, but needs 1 or 2 in to win a few big games. & make a statement . Not a Costa Rican who none of us had seen until last week..
I know its off topic but as the Koscielny article has a whole load of comments I wanted the fans to hear my song for him.
To the tune of “We will rock you”
Hes got shit loads of pace, You’ll look a disgrace, when Kos nicks the ball from infront of your face!
He will, He will BLOCK YOU!!
Don’t call us, we’ll call you.
Always wondered why Wenger didn’t keep Campbell instead of Ryo, given that he was a full international and had secured the paperwork etc. Arsene gave us a bit of insight there when he said…
“We knew always that he had the talent to create something special, [perhaps] he relied a bit too much on that.”
Would suggest that Joel isn’t the hardest worker on the training pitch. Hopefully he has realised that he has too apply himself to develop his natural talents, if he has I think he’ll make a good addition to the squad.
With Walcott likely to miss the first couple of months of next season there’d be an opening for him straight away. We’d be bonkers to not at least see him train with the first team for a while IMO.
One very useful thing about Campbell is that he is versatile. In our system he can play as either one of the attacking three midfielders or as an out-and-out striker. Perfect for when we need back-up in any of those positions. And, most importantly, it looks like he has an eye for goal. The way that Campbell and his teammates exposed Moyes’ United emphasised, yet again, just how important a top-level manager is at the biggest clubs in Europe. Despite the vitriol being spat in the direction of the Scotsman right now, he is actually a decent football boss. In… Read more »
and you’re not making the situation any better
Umm..except Wenger won 3 titles (including the Invincibles), 4 FA Cups, within a very tight budget maintained Champions League football every year and now back to challenging for titles when the financial problems died down a little. We also have a new stadium out of the whole thing. Not to mention the players he has developed and is still developing.
I don’t understand how anyone can compare Moyes and Wenger to make his point. Goddamn.
Wenger won all those things nearly a decade ago. He was a different animal back then. He is an old man now who is past it. Just look at the incompetent way he has handled the striker situation at the club.
A Klopp or Simione could take us further.
you are utterly childish when commenting on football mate. he was a different animal back then? what is that supposed to mean? that he has forgotten how to win titles? That he has forgotten what his job is about ? Is the epl not a different animal now in comparison to what it used to be? Or do your comments only count for Arsene ? More like the financial situation at the club prohibited him from being able to bid for top world class established players rather than anything else. Stop trying to find faults when none exist just to… Read more »
and the fact you consider the 8-9 years it took arsenal to recover from their stadium transition as failure indicates how clueless you are on the clubs’ objectives or how football and finance actually works.
tough luck…Arsenal aint owned by sugardaddies and neither do they want to run the club that way…if you dont like it i suggest you find a club that agrees to your “philosophies” instead of demanding that a private organisation follows what you want because obvioulsy Arsenal is not your club mate…….
United won’t dither? Oh I think they will. If they were even minimally competent they’d never have left the choice of manager up to Fergie. Old men in any job, not just in football, almost always choose a successor in their own image. An old-school Scot who’s defensively minded and supposedly (though not actually) good on a budget might have been a reasonable choice in the 1980s, but it isn’t what any club wants in 2013, least of all one with United’s budget to waste. You’re right that the club ought to ask questions about Wenger’s performance rather than simply… Read more »
miranda is it difficult for you or fatgunner to accept that policy and budgets are matters influenced by owners and board and certainly not the manager/employee? i find it hilarious that in the year 2014 grown up people cant see the obvious… arsenal, the club, knowingly sacrificed titles in favour of financial stability and stadium repayment. for as long as it takes to balance. Do you really believe that the Owners of ARSENAL give Wenger 100m a year and ask him to deliver the title and he fails them 8 years running? Could it not be….they never asked him to… Read more »
Arsenal is Fatgooner’s club quite as much as it’s yours and he has every right to think what he likes. Support in the stadium is one thing – and unfortunately not one some Arsenal fans are especially good at – but uncritical approval of every aspect of the club’s running is quite another. Fandom doesn’t mean you have to put your brain in the bin and silence anyone who refuses to give unconditional support to every decision made by the club. Would you extend your comment on proper fan attitudes to those United supporters who’d like to get rid of… Read more »
When he used the words “get rid of Wenger”, he automatically gets the thumbs down.
You don’t talk to a legend in this manner. Wenger has always been respectful towards people, his conduct is always upright, he doesn’t troll. So even if you think that he is pass it, which you are entitled to, you do so in a respectful manner.
I want to downvote this ten times!
Mate wtf has this got to do with JOEL CAMPBELL!?
Did you get distracted by a pizza?
Am I the only one who thinks the search for that mythical striker is now DOA. Knowing how Wenger has behaved in the past I think it is safe to say we are not more going to look for any “world class” striker(Whatever that means). His argument predictably will be we have Sanogo, Podolski, Walcott is coming back and now Campbell. So y’all better prepare your mind for that and don’t get too disappointed.
I think you’re right, I wouldn’t rule out another bigish name goalscoring winger/wingy striker but I kinda think the role of figurative sounding board for our horde of midfielders/wingers might be filled with the way Sanogo has gone about it and Theo’s performance against Spurs, with Campbell possibly able to do it too.
dear joey campbell (not barton)
Happy 120th! *at least in blog years*
one for the future but we need someone like Suarez to win titles