Why Arsenal should stick with Joel Campbell next season

Costa Rican star – Joel Campbell.

With rumours of Marouane Chamakh and Ju Young Park leaving Arsenal this summer along with the reported arrival of German international, Lukas Podolski, Arsenal have been reported to be on the lookout to add one more striker to their disposal. However, they should look no further than their current crop of players and know that they have a real gem of a striker in 19 year old, Joel Campbell, who is currently on loan at French side, FC Lorient.

“Who is Messi? Who is Neymar? Gentlemen of the press – I present to you: Campbell. I discovered him playing with cans.” – Costa Rica national team manager, Ricardo La Volpe

Bought in the summer of 2011 from Costa Rican side, Deportivo Saprissa for £1 million, Joel Campbell impressed Arsene Wenger immensely with his international performances not only in the Gold Cup where he bagged a goal but in the Copa America where Campbell also scored a goal, giving a man of the match performance in the process against Bolivia – not to forget, the youngster has also scored 10 goals in 13 games for the Costa Rican under-20 team too.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t feature for Arsenal in the 2011/2012 season as he had not played in 75 percent of Costa Rica’s international matches in the past two years and wouldn’t qualify for a work permit to play in England until at least 2012 – as a result, Campbell moved on loan to struggling French side, FC Lorient. Wenger however, would and should be hoping that Arsenal receive granted special dispensation for Joel Campbell that would allow him to play in the 2012/2013 season as he seeks his chance to be a first-teamer at Arsenal.

So what kind of player is Joel Campbell? Let him tell you himself -

“I’m clever, fast and good on the ball, though I think I’m at my best in one-on-one situations. Ronaldo has always been my idol and role model but I don’t think I’m like him, Eto’o or anyone. I try to take the things they’re each good at and learn from them. I watch what they do in the pitch and try to put it into practice.” – Joel Campbell.

As much as he may deny it, the 5’11?, left-footed Campbell who can play anywhere in a front three is quite similar to former Barcelona player, Samuel Eto’o; he’s pacey, direct, has a good finish in him, possesses great ball control and is full of tricks and stepovers – pretty much all the attributes Wenger loves in a player besides the occasional showboating. His knack for scoring goals has also earned him the nickname of El Pantera in Costa Rica which translates to the Panther and for some national team fans, is the best striker they have at their disposal despite the youngster being only 19 years old.

At FC Lorient, Campbell has made 18 appearances so far at the time of writing, 11 being off the bench and has only scored 2 goals and assisted once – these statistics may be poor but shouldn’t be looked at too much since FC Lorient are quite a poor team and currently find themselves languishing in 18th in the French league. Campbell hasn’t had a lot of service either has he averages only 1.4 shots per league game – this is a very small amount if you compare it to someone like Robin van Persie for example, who at Arsenal has averaged 4.4 shots per league game due to the superior service he gets.

Celebrating his goal against the world's best in Spain: Joel Campbell.

However, that doesn’t diminish his well known talent as on November 15th, Costa Rica faced the European and World champions, Spain in an international friendly – Campbell took the spotlight and shot an effort past Sergio Ramos and Carles Puyol to score a curler from outside the box which was scarily Henry-esque, putting Costa Rica 2-0 up. Campbell had a brilliant performance against such an intimidating opposition and for a 19 year old to have such impact is something else – his influence was so big that after he was subbed off, Costa Rica crumbled, eventually drawing the match 2-2.

If Campbell does obtain his work permit, Wenger will not need to spend on another striker – he has a gem at his disposal who has all the qualities to succeed in the Premier League and with a little polishing as well as the possible experience of playing alongside van Persie, could be the next international star.