Gunners Snap Up Young Prospect
Since taking charge of North London side Arsenal, Arsene Wenger has done a pretty decent job of identifying youthful talent and bringing that talent to the club as early as possible so that club officials don’t need to splash out the levels of money that the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City shell out month after month. In light of this philosophy, Arsenal have signed 19-year-old frontman Joel Campbell.
Arsenal scouts started to up their interest in the young forward after observing his displays in attack for national side Costa Rica at this year’s Gold Cup and Copa America. The scouts also reported back to Wenger that officials from AC Milan, Juventus and Barcelona were all interested in signing the young talent, which forced the Arsenal manager to put aside his reservations and place a 930,000 pound offer, which could yet look like a bargain depending upon how quickly he settles in at the North London club. Campbell is being signed from former club Deporivo Saprissa, where he made just three appearances.
Even though he hasn’t got a massive deal of domestic experience under his belt, the player has been called up by his country with regularity. In fact, the youngster helped his team progress through to the quarter finals of the Gold Cup. Sadly for him, though, they failed to work their way through the Copa America group stages, despite goals from him in both tournaments. His international schedule for 2011 is not yet at an end, with the Arsenal man now planning to compete at the under 20′s World Cup in Columbia.
With the Costa Rican football league not among the most competitive in global football, it is extremely beneficial for the young striker to be getting a lot of international experience as he will need it to be able to deal with the unique pressures that come with playing in the most watched league in the world, and for a club with such demanding fans as Arsenal. It is likely that he will be sent out for a loan spell at another club before he is given the chance to prove himself with Wenger and the Gunners in order to make sure that he is of the right class.
The move follows Arsenal’s signing of Lille forward Gervinho as they move to improve on a disappointing season in 2010/2011, boosting their attacking prospects.
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