By Matty Sadler
December 10 2015

The post below was written immediately after the transfer deadline, after last night's performance in Greece it is well worth re-reading.

I know he isn't exactly the most popular player on the forum, but I genuinely believe that Welbeck is our best option upfront after Giroud. Alexis is probably better being deployed deeper/ wider. When he played upfront last season we often lacked a focal point. One notable example is when he started upfront away to West Ham, with Welbeck on the left. We lacked a focal point and struggled, so we switched Welbeck and Alexis around and immediately looked better, with Welbeck scoring the winner. I'm still not fully convinced by Walcott upfront either. I prefer him on the right, and the thing about Walcott is that an injury is never really far away.
With the news that Welbeck is now out for the foreseeable future, we're literally left with Giroud as our only recognised centre forward. So, could Joel Campbell be the answer?

In the past when we've had foreign players out on loan trying to get work permits, I haven't really cared too much. I didn't really follow the trials and tribulations of Carlos Vela, Pedro Botelho and Wellington Silva. With Joel Campbell it was different. At around the same time we signed Campbell, I wanted us to sign this Andy Polo guy who wowed me in a number of YouTube videos. We went for JC instead and I decided to keep track of him.

During the 2011/12 season he went on loan to Lorient in France. The then 18/ 19 year old made 11 starts in all competitions and featured a further 16 times off the bench, mostly playing as a centre forward, and got 4 goals and 3 assists. Nothing overly spectacular but he impressed. 2012/13 he went to Real Betis in Spain. He made 25 starts and 7 substitute appearances, mostly playing on the right or left wing, and got 2 goals and 3 assists, including a worldie strike against Deportivo. Finally, in 2013/14 he went to Olympiacos in Greece and really impressed. In all competitions he made 35 starts and 8 sub appearances, mostly on the right wing but occasionally upfront or on the left, and got 8 goals and 11 assists, including a great strike against Man United in the Champions League. He had impressed suitably and got his work permit and, just to wet our appetites more, he got a goal and an assist in Costa Rica's 3-1 victory against Uruguay at the 2014 World Cup.

I was pretty excited knowing that he'd finally get our chance here, but was left pretty disappointed in the end. In his first start, against Southampton in the League Cup, he looked unfit and struggled with the pace of the English game. He disappeared for a while and only featured fleetingly with very infrequent appearances. He then started against Hull in the FA Cup in January and looked much better. He appeared fitter and able to keep up with the pace, and was very unlucky not to score. He signed a new contract before leaving on loan to Villareal in Spain, as part of our deal to sign Gabriel. It wasn't as good as his previous loan spells. He made 18 starts and 4 substitute appearances in all competitions, either upfront, on the right wing or on the left, and got 1 goal.

Now many, including myself, expected Joel Campbell to leave permanently this summer. He was linked with moves away to clubs in Spain, Italy, Portugual and Turkey, as well as England. So here we are now. For whatever reason, JC is still at the club and was on the bench last week. The likelihood is that Wenger blocked any moves away for Campbell because he knew about the Welbeck injury and he knew he wasn't going to get anyone else in. However, prior to Campbell going out on loan to Villareal, Wenger said that he saw Campbell as part of his long term plans, but thought he needed to go out and get game time. So maybe, just maybe, Wenger intended on keeping Campbell all along. In fact, just last week, when discussing the 23 year old, Wenger said:

Quote:

At the moment he is here and personally I would like to keep him. I will have to sit down with Joel because I rate him highly as a player and personally if he stays here I am very happy.

Regardless of whether it was intended or not, Joel Campbell is here and it is highly likely that he will get game time at some point. Campbell is fast, skilful, direct and can finish. He has also proven that he can play anywhere across a front three.

Could Joel Campbell be the answer upfront? He may have to be!

Discussion here