Joel Campbell says he’s ready to fight for his Arsenal future having recently enjoyed a run of games in the starting XI.
The door has been opened by injury and the Costa Rican impressed away at Swansea scoring his first Gunners goal since his signing in the summer of 2011. His future has been uncertain, and without the plethora of injury problems suffered by the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky, Danny Welbeck and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, he might have been playing elsewhere by now.
However, his desire is to stay in London and make his Arsenal career a success. Asked if he was considering leaving, he said, “No, I’m an Arsenal player and I’m very happy here. I’m fighting to achieve my aims and hope to stay here for a long time.
“You never know in football. I’m just focusing on playing and doing as well as I can, then it’s up to the manager to make the decisions.
“I’m trying to take advantage of my opportunity but I know that what happens next is up to the manager. As I’ve said, I’m just focusing on playing and performing as well as possible and the rest is up to him.”
He’s been deployed on the right hand side, and often operates as a central striker for his country, but he says he’s happy to play anywhere for Arsenal.
“I’m happy playing in any position,” he said. “I can play centrally, but I feel comfortable on the right too and I just try to do the best job I can.”
Such a refreshingly different attitude from debuchy!
yes, first thing that springs to mind unfortunately.
Debuchy is 30 though and wanting to be in the French squad, Campbell is much younger. So I let Debuchy off to an extent. He is improving since he has been playing though Bellerin is tough opposition for a place.
Campbell though surely wants to be in the Costa Rican side, too, therefore no leaway for Debuchy in my view. He has been improving but there was no need to talk about his future, even if he is concerned. Buckle up and show your metal. Campbell did exactly that, that’s why he is a class act for me, though footballing-wise… we will see. Age-wise it would be annother negative for Debuchy: he is thirty and goes talking about his future. Campbell on the other hand has been told to “get out while he can” and look who is still here… Read more »
You can get in the Costa Rice squad even if you don’t play regularly for your top European club. No offense intended to Costa Rice, but it’s hardly the same level of competitiveness.
Costa Rica*
I don’t really get the criticism of Debuchy. He wants to play, fair enough. He wants to leave because Bellerin is better, again, fair enough! I’d prefer it if he stayed and fought for his place but if he wants to leave then I don’t blame him and good luck to him.
I think Sagna has passed Debuchy on the French team again. He’s been a beast for Citeh lately…I still miss him, but Bellerin sure helps!!!
fair point @assistantref. Plus, Costa Rica is not playing at the Euros, so Debuchy’s spot is much more under pressure. Regarding Debuchy being refreshingly honest, as some ppl write: Imo there is nothing refreshing about it, as everybody wants to play at the highest level and he has not really been with us long.
I disagree. Debouchy is refreshingly honest about wanting to play.
All players say they are keen to stay and earn their place, because saying otherwise puts their tranfer bonus at risk. I’m not saying Campbell is doing this, but words like this are meaningless.
Agreed! Debuchy is taking a lot of undeserved shit at the moment and while Campbell’s spot in Costa Rica may be safe regardless if he plays regularly or not, Debuchy’s isn’t due to the vast selection of players at France’s disposal.
I’m glad to see Campbell improving game by game.
In the gentle words of Marko from Tropoja “Good Luck”
In the gentle words of Marco from Tropoja “Good Luck”
It didn’t work out so well for Marco. Hopefully this will be different
Time is on his side, hope he can step up as he comes into his peak years. Not super optimistic that he’ll be other than a squad player, but happy if I’m wrong.
Good luck to him.
I think its actually up to you young Sir. You show us what you got and then that makes the decision easier for the Manager. He will be forced to pick you if you are good enough. Coquelin took his chance and grabbed it with both hands and never let go. Hasn’t had a bad performance since January which is impressive as every other player has.
Can’t fault his attitude, that’s for sure. Also I don’t think we should underestimate the effect of that kind of mentality amongst the fringe players.
That’s what I love about this current group of players. It seems everyone is doing their bit not just on the pitch. Even if they’re not even close to the starting XI when others are fit.
I would love hor him to succeed. Not least because he’s doing it for me in my Fifa Ultimate Team (which plays at the Emirates btw).
Some of his jinks and work against Swansea was brilliant. With The Ox deemed a future CM star by AW it makes sense to have Joel Ghosting players and cutting in to to take random shots a la Bobby on the right.
TBH I think if he’s to stay he needs to up his game a lot. Id lime to see him able to keep the ball for a start.
Hell, at this point I’d even lemon to see him keep the ball.
Think he is best upfront rather than on right. He is more of a goal poacher than a pacey winger for me. Anyways you cannot question his attitude.
I think he can give the ox a run for his money. The best thing about him is that he puts in a shift in the last two matches he’s played so far.
Definitely.. hes been no worse than oxlade chamverlain.. whilst ox can point to injury. There are also major question marks hanging over him in regard to how consistent he can be for us. He hasnt shown any so far and if campbell can do so he could relegate ox to the bench and push him to new heights with real competition.
1 goal 2 starts. Needs to improve defensively but that woud hopefully come with more games if hes allowed them. Looks no more than a squad player atm but I reckon hes a diamond in the ruff. His first team stats on loan are confusing given his obvious talent. Unfortunately due to his record on loan I dont expect him to get an extended run in the team once everyone is back fit. If he can improve his tackling, crossing and movement into space and beyond the last man and maintain a 1 in two goal record or thereabouts particularly… Read more »
Off the topic
Great banter from hector and nacho XD
Hector-” Iam here with peter crouche’s younger brother”
https://youtu.be/lpIRTfSLWI8
The more people we have fighting for their future, the better the team will become. Giroud is a changed man since the advent of Walcott The Striker.
Can’t wait for Welbeck, Rosicky and Wilshere to join the fight.
Then collectively, they join the title fight. Exciting times.
I’m probably one of the few that feels he would do a better job centrally than on the right. I mean, he’s not better than Theo overall, but technically he is. He’s also quite strong (probably comes from playing so much as a lone CF for CR) and seems to do really well protecting the ball on the RW. But he plays very much like Theo did on the RW; isn’t really involved in build up play much like Ramsey, and doesn’t dribble like Ox, but does have the defensive work rate like Welbeck has (and Theo, up until recently,… Read more »
100 percent agree with this. If Theo can play as a cf, Campbell should too. He has more experience playing there than Theo.
Think Campbell would do great as a striker. He’s fast, has a good left foot and probably has better hold up play than theo. He has been industrious on the right, but has lacked the cutting edge needed to make the right side his.
Who knows, a front line of Alexis, Campbell and Ramsey/ox or whomever would be awesome.
He’s had to come in and play 4 very difficult games in 12 days without any match fitness and he has performed excellently… Against Sheffield Wednesday, Bayern & Sp*rs the team as a whole performed poorly but his performance was impressive… Always willing to fight for the team and super work rate… He’s only going to get better… Good Luck baby face 🙂
I believe he will be in alexisesque level in one or two years from now.
Don’t give up. Stay focused ma guy
All this rubbish about him being only good enough to be a “squad Player”. Same thing said about Coquelin (if not worse) before his rise. Same with Bellerin. No one predicted these players will improve. Remember Walcott, Ramsey. We were told one did not have a footballing brain, the other would never amount to anything. The former we were told could not play at CF. Shows how little people know. As far as I’m concerned, Campbell has some good attributes that may recommend him ahead of some of the more fancied starters. Ox. Great going forward but suspect still with… Read more »
He may offer a CF option in future but he has got to get his dues on the RW first. To his credit, he is strong holding the ball up (which he has demonstrated for Costa Rica on many occasions) He has great feet and positional awareness. Could become a very very good player. Absolutely disagree with all these assessments that he has a limited role only in the future. These are the same lot who did not see Coquelin playing a part in the squad last season, who proclaimed Walcott was lmited because of his footballing brain or lack… Read more »
Why exactly must he “pay his dues first” at RW?
Because
He’s done a solid job and hopefully has given the manager more confidence rotating him in to help keep our first team fresh.
I think he struggles more playing with Debuche because Campbell seems to look to cut inside to his strong foot everytime so he needs a player like Bellarin providing width and space or else he becomes too easy to defend.
One thing that Campbell does better than Ox is the shooting. The shot against Sp*rs in the 2nd half showed promise, and could have given us a goal. I don’t think Ox would have hit the target, more likely fired over or a metre beyond the post.
yea he needs a run of games to improve and gain confidence
He’s got potential to be a good back up when called upon but that’s as far as it goes I’m afraid. He slowed down our counter attacks every time he got the ball. and was more interested in defending than attacking on the RW. That’s why I believe the OX and even Ramsey are way ahead of him arm even though the OX can be a liability defensively sometimes.