With the transfer window now shut, many Arsenal fans have been left surprised by the club’s decision to retain the services of Costa Rican international Joel Campbell. The wide man has only featured 10 times for the Gunners in his four years at the club, partly because of the lack of a work permit.
He impressed massively during the 2014 World Cup, helping Costa Rica overcome the likes of England, Italy and Uruguay to escape one of the hardest groups of the competition. The pre-season that followed also showed promise – as he featured regularly and was hugely impressive in Arsenal’s 5-1 thrashing of Benfica.
However, since then he has not lived up to the hype at Arsenal and has been limited for game time. The closest he has come to featuring for the Gunners this season was when he was named on the substitute bench for the away fixture at Newcastle.
Now though, Danny Welbeck has been ruled out for several months due to a knee operation and with the limited options up front that Arsene Wenger has at his disposal, now is the perfect time for Campbell to prove his worth in the Arsenal team.
Joel Campbell possesses immense speed and skill on the ball and as such should prove to be a nightmare for most defenders. In this sense, he is similar to Theo Walcott but is perhaps not as clinical when in the final third. However, against teams who play a high defensive line he would be a perfect fit. As we saw when Arsenal played Galatasaray last season in the UEFA Champions League and Welbeck ran amok, the Gunners were highly effective at playing the ball through to the England international – a pacey attacker – who then only had to deal with a one-on-one with the goalkeeper. In games like this, Campbell can be the main man for Arsenal. He is more than quick enough to rinse defenders, which is a quality that Olivier Giroud does not possess and as such allows the team to operate under a different attacking style.
If Campbell were to be used in such a capacity, it would give the Arsenal side a more flexible style of football and thus allow them to deal with opponents in different ways. At the moment, teams have learnt from the fact that if Giroud is man marked by a couple of defenders then the Gunners have no other attacking outlet, meaning they are effectively choked out of the game. Yet if Arsenal were in such a position and then replaced Giroud with Campbell, the opposition may not be able to alternate their defensive shape quickly enough to deal with the new threat.
This period is crucial for Joel Campbell. With Danny Welbeck out-of-the-way, Olivier Giroud very much under the colossal pressure from the Gunners’ faithful and Theo Walcott failing to fire, now may be the perfect time for him to step up and prove that the wait to see him in an Arsenal shirt was worth it.
