The Arsenal and Costa Rica international star Joel Campbell will have been disappointed in his nation’s showing at the Copa America centenary tournament in the United States this summer, as the Costa Ricans failed to make it out of the group stage. But that means that Campbell’s involvement was finished over a month ago and so he is already back in London training and preparing for the season to come.
The versatile forward has been talking about life at Arsenal after a reasonably good debut season in which he scored four goals and provided five assists despite being used mainly as a substitute. He did only start 11 Premier league games, though, but as reported by ESPN he is not too concerned about his future at the club and is confident that he can prove himself a valuable asset for Arsenal this season.
Campbell said, “I have had a good holiday and now I am happy to train, to return strong, to prepare myself well in this preseason for the new campaign for which I have high expectations and I will fight with everything to have the opportunity to play and to show what I can give.
“Last season was my first full season with the team from start to finish and to me it was a very productive time, I played 30 games and that was very important for me and made me mature a lot. I could show what I’m made of, and at last the team and the fans were happy with what I have done.”
One of the main reasons for that was his work rate and attitude, similar to that of the fans’ favourite Alexis Sanchez. This is something that the Gunners do not have enough of in my opinion and along with his ability to play anywhere across the forward line I think it bodes very well for his chance in the first team this season.
We should also remember that it was his first season in England and plenty of top quality players before him have struggled to settle for quite some time after moving here. The pre-season games should give our young striker an early chance to get into Arsene Wenger’s good books and build some form and confidence before the season starts for real.
What do you expect from the Costa Rican forward this year Gooners?
Bob.