Wenger – Joel Campbell had to move away from Arsenal to play

Arsenal have gained the defender Gabriel from Villarreal, but an unexpected benefit is that we have sent Joel Campbell to a top-ish team in Spain to gain some more top-class first team experience.

The 22-year-old has already played for his new club on Thursday as they beat Getafe 1-0 to reach the semi-finals of the Copa Del Rey and will hopefully carry on playing regularly.

Wenger admitted that the Costa Rican star would have found it difficult to play if he remained at Arsenal. “Joel has extended his contract so he will go to Villarreal and he needed games.” Le Prof said on Arsenal.com. “Here it was a bit obstructed for him because there were too many players in the same position,”

“After six months, he worked very hard every day and didn’t get enough chances to play, so I wanted to give him a chance to continue to get experience at the top level.”

Campbell got a few chances early on in the season, but it was obvious that Wenger lost confidence in him and refused to give him any more concrete chances even when we were decimated by injuries. Hopefully back in Spain, he can re-find his scoring boots and start impressing Wenger again in readiness for next season….

Campbell said: “I’m very happy to be here and playing in La Liga. It’s a great chance for me to do well in the second half of the season.

“Playing in Spain is certainly special. I was lucky enough to play with Real Betis and now I’ve got the opportunity again with Villarreal.

“I’m ready to work hard and I hope things turn out well. My head is at Villarreal and I’m determined to prove my worth here.”

Good Luck Joel!

Tags Campbell Villarreal Wenger

42 Comments

  1. Off topic

    Thankfully going into the last day of the transfer market fearing the inevitable of not getting what we need or panick buying..
    At least now- anymore signings are a welcome bonus..
    Most of our players coming back.. Paulista on board.. Ozil Walcott and giroud fit… Cazorla the new messi – Sanchez to come back ospina bringing calmness to the defence.. And le coq proving the doubters wrong and providing us with a new steel In the middle..
    Transfer deadline … Whatever… let us be the ones laughing at the last minute panic buys…

    1. I believe he could be better than chambers and possibly debuchy .. If he continues as he is.. Not sure either are getting that place back..
      Great choices to have though..

      1. Big nose i made a comment a couple of weeks back that got quite a few thumbs down when i said not sure how long a contract bellerin has left but Wenger should tear it up and give him a bumper 5 year contract he is the future arsenal rb top quality hope all the people who gave me thumbs down now realise what i am talking about this kid has everything in his locker to be top top class!

        1. Ye.. Now he’s gettingbmore games and getting better.. In a few years you know who will be knocking on our door…???!!!!
          We need to tie him down and put a £20-30m buy out clause in place..

  2. Wish you well Joel and hope you play lots of games

    BTW Did Wenger ever explain why he sent Podolski on loan? It still doesn’t make much sense to loan off our best finisher. Just curious to hear Wenger’s explanation

    1. You are right. But Wenger knew he would not play Poldi so I am glad he did the next best thing and sent him on loan. Thankful for that.

  3. The only way he’ll get proper EPL caliber experience is if he was loaned out to a premiership team!! Like Hull city not to a LA Liga. He’s already played in that league and it hasn’t done much to prepare him for the big stage but I’m guessing wenger had to make this deal happen to secure paulista but i still would want him out again next year to a premiership team for a full season.

    1. Campbell has spent the past 3 or 4 years on loan. Before long he’ll retire on loan. But if Wenger was not willing to play him, the loan was best for everyone.

      1. Only 2 reasons for the contract extension
        1) we want him back
        2) we want to raise the price if Villareal wants him

        I have the feeling Wenger sees something in Joel. His rise is like the OX, ok ok ok then it will be BAM

  4. ugh, can somebody beat Monaco please? Starting to get annoying -__-. Actually, can someone just score 1 goal against them?

      1. Yeah, I guess we’re going to just have to break their bus down. Besides for PSG we have the best attack out of the other french teams, and Lyon didnt have Lacazette today either.

          1. it is. i just watched their game and they essentially just parked the bus and waited for a counter. Pretty basic stuff, and they only had one or two good chances. But their defense seems to be pretty stubborn, conceding only 1 goal since early December.

            1. Against such tactics we tend to struggle a lot. Just to get real. But compared to the Epl the french leauge is a nothing.

            2. @RSH
              Lyon didn’t even try to open up their defense. The were also more concerned about keeping a clean sheet than scoring. We should have no problem unlocking their defense…

  5. A very happy gooner here.yes,let Campbell learn his trade more at Villareal and with some aging players,let’s hope he will be of much help in the future.
    I would too suggest that Jenkinson is given another season on loan(next season and same team) so as to allow Bellerin develop more then bring him back the season thereafter when Debuchy’s leg will be tired so he can compete with bellerin for RB spot.
    We are just seeing the glimpse of Ozil but wait for a real one in a next season.

  6. OT***
    Guzman won’t be spankin his monkey tonight. Not after Santi’s penalty kick buzzed his palm…LOL

  7. Off topic: still pinching myself after todays result with the players we fielded, ie some of the so say fringe players that are doing so well, (coquelin, bellerin, monreal, ospina). Can you imagine if and its a big if we got all of players fit at the same time, on top of todays sqaud we’d have sanchez, welbeck, ox, rosicky, arteta, wilshire, debuchy and gibbs, so much depth and attacking threat! Let’s hope wenger is in the situation soon, (when mid week games come) where he has a selection headache and favouritism plays no part. My only two wishes are that we get adeqaute quality cover for coquelin and that ramsey returns to his best. Can you imagine on current form how scary we’d be with rosicky, cazorla and ozil all seeming to be on great form. Let’s enjoy what is a great period to be a gooner 🙂

    1. @Ronny331
      City and Chelsea look to be losing steam. Soton just got found out and MU are 2 matches away from folding up also. We’re just hittin our stride.
      We got this…
      COYG…

  8. When I said Bellerin and Jenkinson should be our main RB’s people thought I was nuts…. I have watched Debuchy lots of times and he is so damn slow and turns like a tank.. He is so easily turned, he is slow as hell and offers nothing all round compared to the likes of Bellerin and Jenkison..

    I say get back our Jenkison next season and let him fight it out with Bellerin like Monreal and Gibbs are doing..

    Like Walcott, The Ox, Sanchez will be fighting for the wing… Like Ozil, Cazorla, Rosicky, Ramsey etc are fighting for the midfield…

    1. Are you kidding me? Debuchy is a class above and the reason we never missed Sagna. Bellerin is really good but given his age he has some hurdles to overcome, hence why Debuchy is here. With all due respect to Jenkins on, and I really appreciate the back story, there is a reason why he is not an Arsenal player.

  9. All we need to know – the Puma zip failed and Wenger won by 5 goals. Wenger is back where he is comfortable. Shit just got real…….

  10. What does the weekend results mean?
    Mourinho has is eye on City but with only 11pts between us and them, it might be a bit late for a title run but a titling winning style run would get us up near the top.
    Berrelin looks like he could truly become a top top wing back. If this talk of Gaya is true (hopeful) than a set of young Spanish wing backs might be what we need with 2 South Americans in Ozpina and Gabriel> creative but solid.

    Attackively we look good…maybe good enough for the Champions League… Who knows..

  11. Don’t think ever “lost confidence” in him – just a realistic assessment that 3 or 4 players were ahead of him in the pecking order.

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