Joel Campbell praised the medical staff of Arsenal and Real Betis for helping him recover from his knee injury quickly.
Campbell is currently on loan at Betis, his second loan to the Spanish club after he also spent some time with them in the 2012/13 season. However, Joel hasn’t yet made his second debut thanks to an injury sustained on international duty over the summer.
Now the 25-year-old is on the verge of being available for selection, and he says that he has the medical teams of both clubs to thanks. Joel told Marca that he only managed to recover thanks to the “great job by the medical team of [Real Betis] and Arsenal.”
He went on to say: “The injury was at a difficult time for me, I missed the preseason, but now I am happy, excited and waiting to play. I want to play anywhere, from the wing, the center, as a forward … I think to give the maximum for the shirt, the important thing is to contribute and I hope to contribute great things.”
Joel had a mixed campaign in the 2016/17 season, on loan at Sporting CP. In his first 14 league games he scored three and assisted four, a decent achievement considering he only started half of those matches.
However, in the second half of the season things didn’t go so well. Joel struggled with injuries and being left out by the manager. In all, the Costa Rican international played 66 league minutes from mid-January until the end of the season.
Hopefully the current campaign can provide him with a few more chances.
Joel’s last spell with Betis gave him 33 appearances in all competitions, and I’m sure the forward would jump at the chance to play the same again this year.