Joel Campbell has revealed why he left Arsenal to spend the season on loan at Sporting and it’s pretty much exactly what we all suspected.
Apparently, the forward didn’t feature in Arsene Wenger’s immediate plans and, therefore, he decided leaving north London was his best option if he wanted to get regular football.
Speaking recently after joining the Portuguese side, the Costa Rica international revealed his ambition to just play football. He loves it.
“I made that decision because I’m at an important stage in my football life – an ideal age to grow,” the forward told Nacion.
“When I realised I was not going to play as much as I wanted, I thought it would be better to go on loan. In reality going on loan has always been on my request.
“I have ambition, I want to play, and I love football. Truth is, I don’t feel comfortable not playing every Sunday.
“I don’t want to settle for less.
“Another person could stay at Arsenal, have a good wage, live in a nice city and not play but I prefer to leave comfort aside and fight for my dreams. I want to prove I have what is needed to play the game.”
“[Wenger] told me he would have liked me to stay but playing is my priority and if I’m not 100% on his plans then I prefer to go on loan and play football.
“I’ll do my best effort to achieve good stats and grow during this season at Sporting.”
You can’t really blame Campbell. For whatever reason, his time in the squad, let alone starting XI, has been inconsistent to the point where fans have actually started questioning whether the boss has a problem with the 24-year-old.
Although he isn’t exactly world class, he was definitely decent enough to fill in for Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain while they were injured and even scored a couple of goals last season. His omission from the squad therefore seemed a little strange.
The loan move will no doubt be excellent for Joel, if he can get regular playing time. The issue is whether he will ever return to north London. My personal opinion is that he won’t, which is a shame.