Joel Campbell’s impressive World Cup performances are turning heads in Italy, according to the player’s agent.
The 22-year-old has led the line for Costa Rica with considerable swagger in their run to the quarter-finals and although he’s expected to report for pre-season training at London Colney there have been no guarantees from Arsene Wenger that the striker has a long-term future at the Emirates.
Already with experience playing in France, Spain and Greece over the course of the last three years, there were rumours last week that AC Milan are interested in luring Campbell to the San Siro.
Speaking to MilanNews [translated by football-italia.net], representative Roger Lacey took the opportunity to play up his client’s qualities in that weird football agent ‘doublespeak’ we’ve all come to be wary of.
“Are Italian teams interested? Yes. There are several clubs who are in the top band that have made enquiries about the boy.
“We are talking about a great player here, who has captured everyone’s attention.
“Milan? There hasn’t been anything concrete from them. His future at Arsenal is to be assessed after the World Cup.”
Having never played for the Gunners it’s hardly surprising that other clubs are viewing Campbell’s promise and potential as attractive.
The question facing Wenger is whether he thinks Campbell is first team material or if, like he has done with Vela, he can turn a tidy profit on a player and use the cash elsewhere – a point made in this article on ESPN by @arseblog.
Would be shocking if he was sold before playing a single min for Arsenal
He’s under contract and aint going anywhere……. i hope 🙂
I think the problem lies with us already having Sanogo in the squad, they’re currently both very similar style of players and at similar points in their careers, both of them really raw prospects who seem to have serious potential, the question is whether or not they will get the game time necessary to develop ”if we buy a top quality striker” .. (which in my opinion wont happen) that might be tricky trying to work them both into the squad..
A tricky call for Arsene to make.
You’re right – as far as I can see, there’s room for one inexperienced and raw striker in the squad. But considering Joel Campbell has already put in the time on loan, I think Wenger should bring him in for his first and final chance at proving he can cut it in the premier league. Sanogo should be the one sent out on loan to a bottom half premier league side this season. If we do sign another decent striker (which we must), Sanogo would be behind both he and Giroud; Campbell can at least play on the wings as… Read more »
Yeah, I think that’s definitely true, but to be fair to Sanogo, has still played in some high profile games for us in the FA Cup Final, Champions League and in the Premier League as well, and yeah I acknowledge that Joel is performing really well at the World Cup, but I don’t think its an open shut case as some people think. In Joel’s case we’re either taking him back, or we’re selling him from what I’ve been reading. I for one hope he gets his shot at Arsenal, he deserves it, all I’ve heard from him in interviews… Read more »
You’re right Sanogo has played in high profile games for us – and failed to deliver more than ‘nuisance value’
He hasn’t scored a goal and was injured for a large chunk of last season.
He’s barely played 60 professional games in his entire career.
If you look at Joel Campbell’s level of consistency in comparison then I think it has to be Sanogo out on loan and Campbell in the squad.
Right now Campbell is streets ahead of Sanogo, scoring and creating assists against world-class defenders, whereas Sanogo is still very raw, even rawer than Akpom, and runs like an uncoordinated pony in a bog. Who would you prefer to see starting? Who would you think might get us a goal against top oppostion? Not Sanogo, I suspect. When we signed Campbell, Tim Vickery, who I’ve never known to be wrong, said he was an incredibly exciting prospect, and his performances for Costa Rica would support that. I think it would be criminal to sell him, especially as – I’m afraid… Read more »
Sanchez? If the Daily Mail says so then it is the gospel truth.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2677843/Alexis-Sanchez-says-prefer-join-Arsenal-not-Liverpool-despite-Barcelona-wanting-use-Luis-Suarez-deal.html
Sanogo an Campbell are two incomparable footballers, Sanogo can develope into an Adebayor while Cambell has the potential to grow into an Aguero or a Sanches type of strikers. It’ll be a shame if we don’t keep this guy, plus Sanogo needs a season on loan at a premier league club
Sorry, but what Premiership club is going to take Sanogo on loan or, more to the point, give him the playing time that will promote his development? Most of our players, even on loan to lower-league clubs, spend the entire year on the bench. I’m not denying Sanogo’s potential but he hasn’t yet shown any signs of being a striker who’ll bring in three points on a Saturday, which is what the lower-leagues understandly want. Even Afobe, who when he went to Bolton already had a better goals record than Sanogo, barely got any game time. I see the value… Read more »
Campbell is also a decent winger which isn’t (as I understand) something Sanogo can cover. The other thing is ‘when does Campbells contract expire?’ If it’s next summer and he doesn’t get into the first team squad and get some playing time this season then I can’t see his agent letting him stay beyond then.
My money is on him staying with us this season (but I’ve lots money before).
The comparison to Sanogo is not quite right. Sanogo’s a big guy who’s a striker only. Campbell can play on the wing. Campbell’s path into the lineup is probably blocked by Theo and Poldi as much or more than Sanogo.
I happen to think that Campbell has higher upside than Sanogo does and if he comes good, I’d be happy if he replaced Poldi who’s soon going to be 30.
They are not similar at all. Sanogo is an out and out striker, almost a penalty box player who likes to play right up on the shoulder of the defenders, make runs in behind an get on the end of crosses. Campbell looks to drop deeper at times to get the ball, often from the right side so he can have a run at defenders, play through balls or have in-curling shots at goal on his left foot. Age wise similar but Campbell now has the much greater match experience.
I like him for his work ethic and quality strike, but you watch him all game and you can notice that his touch isn’t really there (a lot like Sanogo and Lukaku actually). It’s unfortunate, but if think about the way we play, you don’t want a player that you, as a fan, don’t want to see the ball fall to when it comes to the final pass of a mind-blowing one touch passing string. A la Wilshere goal. My two cents.
But we played Gervinho before. And his first touch is awful.
And we got rid of Gervinho. What’s your point?
Is he better than Vela? We passed on him.
We could bank a few more while value is up and go get what we need.
Yes because Jack is such a brilliant striker… you can keep your two cents
@Oberon, wut?
Think Oberon was pointing to the fact that you gave Jack’s Norwich goal as an example yet Jack is hardly known for his finishing either.
The original point was: Where does Campbell fit in that play? Not whether or not Jack is a striker or his quality therein.
Original poster (I simply cannot bring myself to write that name..) was positing Campbell’s lack of quality first touch would have led to that play breaking down.
From what I have seen Campbell’s style is more open-field run, not tight control, which makes it a valid question.
His stock is unexpectedly high, yet he’s unlikely to feature for us as much as he’d want, particularly if we strengthen as necessary. If he’s content as a squad player, I’ll be surprised but happy to keep him. If not, sell him with a favorable buyback clause. We have all the leverage.
Theo won’t be match fit until October , he’s currently the best right forward we have
Ox?
I feel he should be given an opportunity at Arsenal. He’s a versatile player, a good addition to the squad. He can play upfront and wide and he’s young so he’d improve too. We need depth.
He strikes me as a better option than Sanogo at this point in time, even if he is not the ultimate solution.
I think much will depend on one of two things: 1) Whether we get a new striker; or 2) Whether AW reckons he will be able to get one. Not a superstar striker, Campbell wouldn’t be taking their spot. But a support and back up. To that end: 1) Would Sanogo be loaned out? 2) Would someone like Remy (if we did go for him) be that option? 3) What about the Anderlecht kid that we’re reportedly looking at (Henen)? Signs indicate that he’s likely to be sold for a profit – I’d love to see him play for us,… Read more »
We don’t actually need him as a wing, we have Walcott, Chambo, Cazorla, Poldi, Rosicky, and Gnabry (who is probably ahead of Campbell). So if he came back, he would be ading depth at CF, not his preferred position, although he may be ahead of Sanogo. But if we sign a good striker, will we need Campbell, considering that Walcott is also back-up at CF? Maybe bring him back for one season and see how it goes. And by the way Blogs, you need to stop calling Drmic an Arsenal target, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen in March, but most… Read more »
My apologies, “one time target”.
3 of the 6 you mention aren’t particularly ‘pacey’ and only 2 of them (TW & Poldi) could be used as CFs.
Add in a couple of injuries and we could end up with zero pace.
AW likes multi-position players so I think he’ll give him a year with us.
But the question is this: do we need more players that are not really center forwards who “can” play there but do not do a particularly good job of it when they do? We have Poldi and Theo. we passed on Vela.
I can see Campbell as backup winger / 3rd string striker, but needing to continue to develop to be more than that.
Wenger could see him as LW, RW, or CF, nobody will really know until pre-season.
I think the boss will & should give him the pre-season to see how we can fit him in. All the trouble to get a work permit and sign the player yet we going to sell him and not even bother find out how good he is for Arsenal?? I can’t say I agree with that.
With decent cup runs he can get a good few games under his belt for us next season. He has potential to be something special as does Sanogo. Looking forward to see how he gets on against the Dutch. Anyone else getting wound up by the fact the ITV and BBC seem to think that Van Gaal invented football and is some enigmatic revolutionary thinker ? I dislike Martin O’neill but he had a good point when he pointed out that Brian Clough was using similar systems 30 – 40 years ago.
The commentary and punditry is bloody awful and now the BBC have brought Waddle in!
There’s a lot I haven’t liked about ESPN’s World Cup coverage in the States, but Roberto Martinez’s studio commentary has been outstanding.
Sanogo will be a better player next season. A full pre season of building fitness and strength plus playing with his team mates more can only help. Even if he just makes an impact from the bench every now and then. He’s raw but got something.
Campbell id like to see around the squad, again even if its just bench and cup games for him. Its another option who has pace and can score. This with a few additions of good quality, or ‘top top quality’ and we wont be far away…again.
This is pretty frustrating to be honest. I was fine in January with the “there is no genuine option at striker available this time of year” logic. Now we have a striker with bags of potential, already on the books and having a good world cup and according to Twitter (I know, I know) he had a tidy season at Olympiakos, so it’s not a total one-off thing. If we do let him go, who do you go for then? Everyone is then either totally undercooked or not available. Loan Sanogo, sell our stake in Vela, sell Campbell, release Bendtner… Read more »
Campbell doesn’t convince me. I think he’s lacking some spark. He’s good for team like Olympiacos, maybe he’ll do fine in some mid-table Italian club, but I think he doesn’t possess enough quality. An while the club’s thinking about strengthening the attack – he would be our 3rd-4th choice. I’d rather use option like in case of Vela.
You may well end up being right, but he’s certainly earned the chance and I can’t help but notice that he’s made outstanding plays at ever stop since we signed him, steadily improving to make them more often and against better and better competition.
It may be a 1 in 100 chance, but he strikes me the sort of guy whose potential could be as a superstar.
He’s certainly nowhere near the finished article but he has shown flashes of serious talent.
Unfortunately pretty much all young players lack consistency (Like Sanogo).
A ‘Vela’ wouldn’t join us to be 3rd or 4th choice.
Campbell is in the last year of his contract so we may be forced to sell him rather than gamble on the bumper deal he’ll no doubt think he can command. We don’t need another expensive and unsellable failure lounging about collecting checks. Sell him and buy proven quality, I say.
he has 2 years left
Lots of fans argue that he is better than Sanogo. Remember Sanogo was injured and if he can improve on his finishing he could be better than Giroud. Campbell needs to improve on holding the ball and holding possession. I haven’t made my mind up on him yet.
Sanogo couldn’t get much worse at finishing, he hasn’t scored a goal yet! Like a lot of commentators on here I think Sanogo would greatly benefit from a loan spell to continue his development and then we can see where he is this time next year. As for Campbell I can see the Boss cashing in on him, another £15m or so to add to our ‘war chest’. I personally would bring him into the squad for next season. Podolski is not getting any younger, Theo might not be back until Christmas and the Ox also seems to be very… Read more »
Campbell is a midgit. If he’s cover for anyone it’ll be Theo, not Giroud. He can’t play with his back to goal.
Rodrick, you must be a giant if you think 1.78m is midget size.
You’re right to point out he’s not big but he’s not tiny either.
Sell him, then buy him back.
That’ll keep all the people happy who want Wenger to give him a chance, and those who want Wenger to go out and buy a World Cup star. It’s win win.
The perfect solution! Haha
‘Attitude’.
I don’t understand why people think we would play him as a striker. Unless Wenger has plans to change our formation, which is very doubtful, I think it is highly unlikely we would use a small striker up front on his own. Wenger likes a big man who can hold up the ball to bring others into play. The same reason he doesn’t use poldi or theo in the central striker position. If Campbell comes back it will be to play on one of the wings I think. One thing counting against him though is going to be his lack… Read more »
It looked like he was gonna give Walcott a run upfront just before the injury though. I though Feo was excellent against spurs in that game.
He doesn’t have the stamina to last 90 mins in the EPL for sure. I’d personally sell him abroad in the Italian or Spanish league. If he’d the pace and the gas to last, I’m pretty sure you can count him in the same mould as ARjen Robben. But sadly even at the age of 22 he can’t last the distance.
The Stamina usually comes from ‘Pre-Season’ and that will be an issue with the WC mucking clubs routine but for his first season with us, I doubt he’d be asked to play 90 minutes.
Bring him on when the opposition is tiring or … etc
The issue about Campbell is his age. At 22 he would need to be registered as one of the 25 men squad thus taking the place of someone.
Campbell played well in Greece bu t is he good enough for the Premiership?
I can just see two possibilities. Sold or loaned in a Premier League team
I disagree that he can’t play as a lone striker. He may not be tall, but he’s proved strong, agile and hardworking…if people argue Poldi or Theo can play there, then Campbell definitely can because he seems better physically than both. I’d like him back to see how he goes on. Once again I’m reading people already slagging off AFC/AW for selling him or for bringing him back to avoid buying a striker! Ffs people – just wait and see. It’s clear from AW’s comments about him that he rates him highly. If anything can be drawn from that, you’d… Read more »
Agreed. The thing that’s most impressed me in the WC has been his physical strength. He’s actually contested space and position against aggressive international defenders successfully.
I don’t know if he’ll come good, but I definitely want to see him in the Premier League, at least on loan if not for us.
After his performances in the World Cup and his Champions League experience, to not give him a chance would be criminal. Even more so given the fact that Arsenal allowed TGSTEL so many chances and wasted them.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS!
Agree. I think Wenger will at least give him half a season in the squad before deciding. It does seem as if we have too many wide players, but as we saw last season we lacked pace once a couple injuries hit. We can’t risk that again.
Plus side is he can also be used as a CF and could prove to offer a better goal scoring threat than Sanogo. I just hope we go out and get the proven goal scorer this team deserves.
deserve a chance over Yaya Sanogo IMO
They have such different styles that I can’t see it as YS or JC. It’s a young CF and a young goal scoring winger.
I reckon sell while interest is high, we’ll have silly money after Vela too; that’s like £20m+ extra on top of what I imagine is about £50m more. That’s £70m and we could do a lot with £70m.
Is that u wenger
Tricky situation think he proved himself playing in the world cup and last year in the CL. It depends on numerous things will we get in a top striker,he has only one year contract left so would have to negotiate a new deal, sanogo would then have to go on loan to make way which would help him and us.tranfers on or not will probably make or break the options. Would be a nice profit if we sold him and good addition if we keep him
Can not believe some fans are saying sell him, are ye not watching the fucking world cup, this man is gifted
There’s no way he’ll be going anywhere until Wenger’s seen him first in pre-season training.
Until then Campbell’s agent can say whatever tosh he likes.
I am in the camp of if we can sell for a good amount we should. While his perfoances have been decent there is nothing to suggest he add much more than squad quality. If a 15m bid came in I would take it.
I wouldn’t say joel is a raw prospect he is having a great world cup , giving world class defenders a nightmare ,scoring goals has played and scored in the champions league , he would be a great option to have in the squad .I think he could play any where in the front 3 . Get him in and extend his contract !
Can’t believe people are saying we should sell him. He is having a great world cup and has earned his place in the squad. He is streets ahead of Sanogo. So we sell him, even more millions to spend on the squad. What striker do you think we will buy and can you say hand on heart that Wenger would spend the money on a world class striker anyway. You can forget about Sanchez. We could have signed him up by now but no as usual we dither about and now he will likely end up part of a Bitey… Read more »
Arsenal isn’t a football charity….sell him for good money and spend it on proven quality. Yes, he may be decent one day….but I want top strikers to bolster what we already have now! We don’t need another ‘player with potential’….
What proven quality would you go for, given the amount Wenger is willing to pay? We’ve allegedly offered 19m for Sanchez (which certainly won’t be enough, especially given the Suarez situation) and we’re not apparently interested in Balotelli. Remy is the only striker I can think of who’s cheap, available and who’s wanting to come to us. Would you call him proven? Would you prefer him to Campbell?
Yeah I would like to know who people class as a striker with proven quality. It’s already July 2nd and not even a sniff of a possible striker comubg to us. And I am sorry Remy is not the answer!
Like Arsene is ever going to send his baby boy Sanogo out on loan. Unheard of!
Why does it have to be one or the other? Keep both Sanogo and Campbell.
And to the person up there who said “he’ll have to be registered in the 25 man squad thus taking the place of someone else”…well yeah, but that someone would be Bendtner, so it don’t really matter.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I hope Joel doesn’t read all this. God only knows what he will think. I say give him a chance in the team to show us what he can do. We have nothing to lose!
He is a natural replacement for Podolski’s spot with the German likely to leave in a season.
We should work him into the first team this coming season where he can provide another option up front in addition to the striker we must add. Conveniently, he also provides threat from wide areas which is very useful.
Dick Law, your efforts were not entirely in vain.;)
With 2 years still on his contract it would utterly ridiculous to not see what he can do in an Arsenal station for the first half of the season at least
This guy has done more at the World Cup than any of the players playing upfront for England, in just one game he had already equaled what it took Rooney to accomplish in 3 games, that being a goal and an assist. Here we are talking about sending that player out on loan, when the Mancs are paying glory fat useless boy 300 000 pounds a week, whilst Cambell’s future is in doubt. Does my fucking head in because the boy is class now, that should see him walk into the 1st team, especially as he has what we need.
Proven quality….Sanchez, Higuain, Huntelaar, Martinez, Hernandez…..we don’t need another bench warmer.
With the exception of Sanchez, Wenger has rejected all of those already, even when we desperate last summer and January, when the prices weren’t quite so high. As for Sanchez, we’ve allegedly offered 19m which is quite a bit below what Barca think, probably rightly, they can get for him. In any case Liverpool now hold all the aces. If we were serious about acquiring the players we need, Sanchez included, the time to do it was before they strutted their stuff on the world stage and their prices soared beyond what Wenger would ever be willing to pay. But,… Read more »
I’d take Sanchez, Jackson Martinez, Higuain over Giroud any day a week.
Martinez is 29 and his price is set at 44m. Higuain is utter tosh and thank God we didn’t sign him last year. Sanchez is top quality and also had a great world cup, and at just 32m could be a steal.
Jackson Martinez is 27. Higuain has not been good lately but he’s still a good player ^^. I’d love Sanchez to sign for arsenal, we’ll have to wait and see if it happends ^^
Sorry Mr Arseblog i did not know where else to put it, but you are 100% wrong on Suarez and asking why would any team have him. Your suggestion that he is worth more trouble than his goals is purely a personal statement of yours and does not reflect the reality or the way professional football clubs would look at it. This is a once in a lifetime striker/killer/predator whose determination and focus will not allow anyone to mess with him. Whoever has played football at any decent competitive level will know that defenders are no angels. Defenders constantly try… Read more »
All strikers should be allowed to bite their cheating defensive opponents unless they haven’t got any teeth in which case they should be allowed to give Chinese burns.
To be fair, Campbell performed far better than some England’s experienced Premier League players on the World Cup stage; so stop this nonsense about stamina and so-called fitting in with English PL. Campbell is a perfect replacement for Bendtner, given time to train and adapt to Arsenal’s way of playing and Arsene Wenger’s development skills and guidance, I am confident, Campbell will flourish in Arsenal’s jersey. Arsenal is not paying any transfer money on him, only his weekly wages. Even if Arsenal manages to get Sanchez, Arsenal should still keep Campbell and Sanagogo. The truth of the matter is that… Read more »
Who knows Arsenal may have ‘Baby Henry’ (Joel Campbell) in the making.
Time will tell!