There’s only one place to start this morning and that’s the return of Sol Campbell. It’s been rumoured for quite a while now and yesterday things went into overdrive. He played for the reserves last night under a reserve league registration, ironically against West Ham. Once again he only lasted 45 minutes but this time we were 2-0 up instead of two down and the decision to remove him from the action at half-time was made by the management.
Now there’s an expectation that he’s going to sign a short-term deal with us until the end of the season. Speaking to ESPN he confirmed this, saying:
There are still a few technicalities to iron out, but I have signed for Arsenal until the end of the season, and it’s fantastic, great, marvellous. The old enthusiasm is back. I’ve got to tell you it seems as though I have never been away. I’m ecstatic really to be back at Arsenal, and I have worked bloody hard to get there.
Arsene Wenger has been an inspiration. He has watched me closely after letting me train at Arsenal for nearly two months now. He’s not stupid – he wouldn’t have taken me back if he didn’t like what he has seen, and I have worked and worked.
And therein lies the rub. Regular readers will know Sol was never a big favourite of mine after his West Ham shenanigans and the way he left the club saying he was going abroad. He still had a year to go on his contract, Arsenal released him from that so he could leave on a free and not too long afterwards he turned up at Portsmouth, denying the club at least a nominal fee for his transfer. We all know what happened.
Fast forward to 2010 and I suppose you have to look at it from a more detatched point of view. I don’t know how many times I’ve said the centre-half situation at the club worries me. Beyond the first choice pair we have Sylvester who, despite a professional approach, has never done anything to suggest that Demento made a bad decision in letting him go. And then we have Philippe Senderos who wanted to leave the club in the summer, who Arsenal were happy to let go until Djourou’s injury meant he had to stay. So you have a guy who’s not up to it and a disaffected player who the manager doesn’t really want. The bottom line is we have needed a centre-half for some time and now we’ve got one.
I certainly have concerns that he’s up to the task of playing at the top level of the Premier League at his age and having not played football for close to 8 months now. What it boils down to is Arsene Wenger. He’s seen Cambpell at close quarters for the last 3 months now, since he’s been training with us. He’ll have done all the tests regarding his fitness, speed, reaction times, agility and everything else and if he’s willing to take him on then we have to trust him that the player can do a job. Arsene is a ruthless man, particularly when it comes to players getting old, so there will be absolutely no sentiment involved here. He won’t have brought him back because he likes him, it will be because he thinks Sol Campbell can add something to our squad.
Now, let’s remember that he is being signed as back-up, not a first choice player, and leaving everything else aside, hard as it might be, there are positives to it. I know that Sol is very popular in the dressing room and the younger players have a lot of respect for him. He’s vastly experienced, which is another way of saying ‘quite old indeed’, but it’s true. He’s won things, he’s done title races, the run-ins, and two league medals and three FA cups from his time at Arsenal is far more than anyone else in that dressing room. He was also a member of the Portsmouth team that won the FA Cup a couple of seasons ago so since he left Arsenal he’s won more than we have. If some of that positive experience can rub off on some of the players then that’s no bad thing. He adds depth, and possibly width, to the squad – something we have all wanted. He makes the squad better and ultimately that’s what it comes down to.
Martin Keown reckons he can still do a job, saying:
I think it’s an excellent move. . I think he is perfect for the squad. He is a great professional, a good lad to have around and he will be bringing experience to the dressing room. He has been working with Tony Colbert, the Arsenal fitness coach, and if he wasn’t able to work with him and shine, they certainly would not be signing him.
Former Gunner Alan Smith says ‘trust Wenger’ too. And that’s what we’re going to have to do. The move makes sense in the short-term. It’s a relatively easy solution to a very definite problem and even though I have misgivings about going back and signing Sol Campbell I’m happy that we have addressed the central-defensive issue which was absolutely crucial. I sincerely hope that he enjoys an Indian Summer over the next few months at Arsenal and that his time with us is a success.
So as one door re-opens another one seems set to close and it looks like Philippe Senderos’ Arsenal career is coming to a close. He says:
I want to go, I want and need to be playing ahead of the World Cup. I don’t want to play in the reserves, I just want to go.
And who can blame him? Campbell’s arrival means any vague chance he had of getting back into the team is well and truly gone and in a World Cup season he has to play. He hasn’t even been playing in the reserves.
It’s a shame the way things have ended up for him, I have to say. I think he’s a perfect example of a player cut loose by the manager when others have been given far more leeway to make mistakes. Yes, he struggled against Didier Drogba but it’s not as if he’s the only one. You could line up practically every centre-half in England, and many from across Europe, who have been unable to cope with Drogba over the last few years. It seems the Champions League quarter-final at Anfield is what undid his Arsenal career but even then a club like AC Milan were willing to take him on loan and even though he didn’t make too many appearances for them he did ok there.
This summer he was all set to join Everton. I may have jumped the gun in announcing it but the agreement was there between all parties, Philippe was packed and ready to leave, until the deal broke down in the wake of Djourou’s injury. Rather than go find another centre-half and let Senderos leave we kept him as cover, with no real intention of playing him. Six wasted months later we have a demotivated, unhappy player and it’s no surprise he wants out as quickly as possible.
He’s a good guy and I think he’ll go on to be a very good player. He was, remember, the most sought after young defender in Europe. We beat off United, Real Madrid and Barcelona amongst others to sign him in the first place. He’s young, still only 24 which is nothing in the life of a centre-half, and I do wonder if, in the future, this is one Arsene might regret not taking a slightly different approach with. I hope we do the right thing by him and allow him to move freely this month. If we can do it for Sol Campbell, why can’t we do it for him? Wherever he ends up, I wish him well.
In a quick look at the other news this morning, Kieran Gibbs talks about his recovery from injury, Fran Merida says he just wants to show the boss what he can do, and Cesc says he has no regrets about twanging his hammy against Villa.
One other thing to bear in mind is that the Campbell deal is a very inexpensive way to solve our defensive problem. Might that leave more money free to splash out in other areas? We shall see.
More tomorrow.
