Joel Campbell has taken to Facebook to talk about the ‘pain’ he has suffered throughout an injury-ravaged season.

1Sacrifice

The Costa Rican has been called up for the World Cup despite hardly playing any football this season due to knee and ankle problems and he took to social media to explain how he feels about all that.

The post says, “It’s been a difficult year, a lot of pain and sacrifice. But God is good and always showing me the way 🙏🏿 🙏🏿 🙏🏿 I am extremely proud and happy to be part of my selection for the world cup 2018 ⚽️ 🇷🇺 .. Let’s go sele 🔵 “

Campbell has struggled all season with a number of injuries that have restricted his playing time to just 142 minutes with one goal and one assist to his name.

A knee operation during the summer kept him sidelined until October. That was followed by a sprained ankle just a couple of weeks later that kept him out even longer.

He only returned to action at the start of March after 126 days out.

It’s hard to know what the future holds for Campbell.

Some would argue that he showed enough during his time playing for Arsenal to be given a chance.

Others would say that after being an Arsenal player for seven years, six loan spells indicates a player who will never make a career for himself in the red half of north London.

Campbell has never really complained about being shunted around Europe by Arsenal nor about the lack of opportunities afforded to him by his parent club.

He would be right to think he did enough in the 15/16 season to at least warrant a place on the fringes of the first team. Three goals and three assists in 19 Premier League appearances tell only half the story of a man given, on average, 46 minutes per game.

I don’t think that Joel Campbell is an exceptional player but he is better than he gets credit for and it must surely be time for him to find a permanent home.

According to transfermarkt his contract with Arsenal runs out this summer. Perhaps this is the time he finally gets to do that.

Speaking recently to the media in his home country, legendary Costa Rican forward, Rolando Fonseca, hailed Campbell as a ‘fantasy player’, saying, “Joel Campbell is a fantasy player, who likes big stages.”

Arsenal have 15 players out on loan this season and you can read about how they have all done this season by clicking next…

In total, Arsenal sent 15 players on loan this season between the summer and January windows, so let’s take a look at how those spells are going for each of them.

by Dan Critchlow

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