Joel Campbell spoke yesterday about his loan move to Real Betis, and his excitement to play for the club.
Campbell was one of five departing players on deadline day, although in Joel’s case it was only on loan as mentioned. The Costa Rican has played for Betis before, in another loan spell during the 2012-13 season, and says that he has a lot of positive memories of that first spell.
The 25-year-old spoke to his website, as well as the club’s official website, about the return. First Joel talked about how happy he is to return to Betis: “I’m happy to return to Betis, I have some beautiful memories here, of the club, the city, the fans. It’s nice to be back and I hope I can do my best to help the team with their goals.
“I feel Betis as my home and that’s important, I feel good here and I’m going to give 100% every day for this shirt as I once did. To receive the affection and the welcome of the green fans is incredible.”
Next Campbell spoke about his ongoing recovery from the knee injury he sustained on international duty with Costa Rica: “I am in the last stage of my recovery, I hope to be as early as possible on the courts to do what I like and love, that is to play football.”
Joel clearly believes that he can bring a lot to the Spanish side, and he highlighted that he hopes to show them his talent but also his hard work for the team: “I will put all my talent at the disposal of the team. I will try to be an explosive, unbalanced and dangerous player.
“More than that, it is to contribute work, humility, sacrifice in the team. Hope everything goes well.”
Finally, the forward spoke about the changes to the stadium since his last spell. Betis have increased the capacity of their ground from 52,000 to 60,720, roughly the same capacity as the Emirates. Joel seemed impressed, saying: “It has changed a lot. The stadium is spectacular.
“That gives me even more excitement than I had. I’m happy and eager to be on the field with my teammates.”
Overall it seems that Campbell is happy with his move, and that the fans are happy to have him, which is a good sign for the season ahead.