Arsenal have closed the door on their attempts to sign Costa Rican striker Joel Campbell, after neither the player or his father turned up to a scheduled meeting last night.
The paper La Nacion, which has had several exclusives about the story, leads with the headline ‘Joel Campbell stood Arsenal up‘.
The President of his club Saprissa, Juan Carlos Rojas, confirmed:
“It’s a disappointment for football, for Saprissa and for me that they have decided not to take up an offer from as serious and first-class people as Arsenal. I hope it works out for Joel.
I assume his father thinks that things will get better and that’s why he made this decision, but hey, there’s always a risk. It’s a shame that Costa Rican football could not have a player at Arsenal at this time.”
All parties were due to meet at 7pm at the Intercontinental Hotel for a final meeting before Richard Law departed for London. Humberto Campbell claimed he and his son were absent due to the medical tests that were being undertaken, but Arsenal were suitably unimpressed to pull out of the deal. Rojas confirmed:
“There is no other option; the doors are closed.”
Humberto Campbell seemed unmoved by the news:
“If the Arsenal option is closed there is no problem. When one door closes, many open.”
It’s quotes like that which will lead people to infer than another club has already been in his ear.
The news has to go down as another blow to Arsenal’s summer transfer plans, after we just missed out on Argentinian midfielder Ricky Alvarez despite sending Law out to try and do out a deal. It does, however, seem that in this case the player’s father made it more trouble than it was worth.
Sorry to start your day with some less than great news…
Oh
What a douche of a father.
You’re only 19, going to one of the best clubs centered around youth development.
Even though you may not have ties with Arsenal, you could always leave after a couple of years as a world class player to any club of your liking. i.e the anelka journey.
Who cares? He’s hardly Paulo Wanchope….
Sounds like we moved too slow in the deal and didn’t
Position the club as an attractive proposition. Missing a young player isn’t a doomer, but the concern is the lad sould have been breaking his legs to get to Arsenal.
Good news. Now lets go for proper players, not bloody kids.
Laws needs to be given his P45!!!!!!
This is clearly made up….
I don’t think we were slow. We almost sealed the deal in 2 days.
Just that the father decided that short term greed is better then long term development for his kid.
No point get pissed at arsenal or anything.
I half expected something like this to happen. Once he mentioned he waiting until after the cup it was obvious that all he could see was pound signs. If he was really only interested in securing son’s career you’d think he would have sorted out the move (not just to arsenal) before the tournament and not risk having a bad tournament or an injury harming the move.
A 19 YEAR OLD COSTA RICAN KID that has played 3 first team games , and THEY pull out !!!
Someones AVING A LAUGH .
thats some good news coz i dont think he is the solution to our problems
gunner try to buy campbell becouse is very interested players please.
Whether or not he was signed would not have an impact on our forthcoming season. Chance [if AW & Ivan G think like me] to go for a ‘ripe’ footballer ready for use this coming season. Joel is still young and we are not sure of how good he actually is
I guess Humberto Campbell said it best “When one door closes, many open.”
I think that a young player has the right to examine all his options before he decides where he is going to play. And let me tell you that Campbell is better that Wanchope when it comes to facing a defender and scoring….
Be interesting to come back to this kid in a few years time and see what came of him. There might be better money elsewhere, but there are few coaches better to work under than Wenger if you’re looking to develop.
I think in the end its a good thing for arsenal to lose out on a player whose father plays an over bearing role in his life. Imagine if we had gotten him we would have to deal with a father who is always ranting to the press about how his son is not getting first team football. Seriously we can do without that.
This is pure greed! Let me hope it’s a good decision on their part! But even if you are not impressed with offer, atleast turn up for the meeting to show respect!!
But you know what! May be God has saved us from disaster of having another DENILSON OR CIGAN
This is pure greed! Let me hope it’s a good decision on their part! But even if you are not impressed with offer, atleast turn up for the meeting to show respect!!
But you know what! May be God has saved us from disaster of having another DENILSON OR CIGAN
Money!!! Greed!!! I say good riddance!! Promote afobe , atleast he’ll be loyal and work his socks off. Also, this guy is in stark contrast to ryo, we don’t want such a character in the dressing room.
I’m not all that bothered – I don’t even think this is a case of us missing out either. Once decisions started getting delayed and delayed, then I got the feeling it wasn’t going to happen. We don’t need the hassle.
Kind of agree with Adi – I am hopeful Afobe will get more first team action. Not that Campbell would altered that as he would have been on loan most likely.
Someone above hit the nail on the head. Disrespectful toward any club to do that. Especially the club he actually plays for who had reached an agreement with Arsenal.
No offence to the kid but I hope he has a shite World Cup. Actually that is a bit offensive.
I think having a player who lets his father run his life is a risk not worth taking,i mean this guys dad is already making demands when his son is nobody what happens if he becomes a somebody?,lucky for us will never know and is it me or have we become some sort of sniffing detector for these other clubs?.
Jrock, u r 2 right- common decency goes a long way! For his son’s sake he better handle things MUCH more manly n professionally next time
Joel Campbell who? Not another Youtube …tube. If he is another Wanchope….he is not all that much..Arsenal never show no interest in him during his playing days… he is a ‘bambi’ and at worse a ‘lamp chop’ to defenders.
Oh..Ricky lose that (Arsenal) number.
Must be a slow day at the office; what acid head came up with this s4ite
whats wrong with you GunnerBlog – these things happen all the time but
you chose to sensationalize just to
to receive a few more hits…
poor show !
and besides its not as if a 19yr
old is gona set the world alight
This seems to be a good way to distract our opponents in the transfer market and do our real deals under the radar. Keeping the faith in signing a quality CB
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Good news.Not another future star(never happens) buy some proper players , we are not a creche.Otherwise wenger out.
We didnt nid hm in d first place coz we ave many 19yrs old playa in our team dt we didnt promote.Wat d hell dy call demself,fatha n son unrespective fellow.
Sounds like another bullet dodged to be honest. This kid has achieved nothing, he’s done nothing and he’s already behaving like this! Imagine what he’ll be like after a few relatively successful seasons? His old man will be hustling and agitating like a street pimp for yet more money or a move! Good riddance to the disrespectful cunt!
Any supporters other than an arsenal supporter, must be looking in on us as lunatics in an asylum. Everyone is now down beat over the fact we haven’t sign a 19 year old kid that a few days ago nobody outside of Costa Rica had heard of. We need to get a grip this guy was never going to be the answer….
The point is that it’s best to find out what kind of people you ae looking to sign before the event. Clearly the father thinks he is sitting on the next Ronaldo. The way he is behaving now is lijely to repeat itself in the future. A year or two after signing if things go well he’ll be agitating for a move as “my son has outgrown the club” or some such nonsense. If it goes badly, he’ll be agitating for a move as “Arsenal have let my son down and don’t love me enough…”. It’s the well worn Adebayor path.
It’s a pity for the boy but at the end of the day we have not signed a 19 year old with little experience. I for one won’t be pulling my hair out.
Great! I’m not gutted in the slightest. I’ve had enough of us going for the ‘next best thing’. Can we buy some f*cking experience. We’ve got youngsters in abundance. Someone should tell the pay masters to concentrate on getting some ‘men’ not more young boys.
what ashame,were does he expect to go next after missing a great chance like that.i petty u.
Couldn’t give a fuck. He would be on loan for three years and then we’d have bought someone better by then .. So hey
We are not saying no…. only waiting for a bigger offer from Chelsea or Man City.. money talks
This is a strange one. If it was the medical tests that made them late the AFC man would know about it. Either the boy got nervous or more then likely someone else offered more wages. Ho hum, as his dad said when one door closes…..
AFC have signed several players at his age over the last six months, I think most fans would rather see a few more pennies on established players….
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I find it hard to get excited one way or another about another teenage starlet. Especially one who will need to go on loan for two years before he can get a work permit to turn out for the carling cup team let alone the first XI
.Established quality or I’m not interested.
So,the player that we had already signed.The same player that had a medical and the deal`was almost complete`,isn`t actually signing for us? Just like the phantom signing of Alvarez…who was `already an Arsenal player according to the media…that was until he went somewhere else? Isn`t it a good thing that most of us are far to sensible to really believe all the crap spewed out by the media?
i tink i agree with many people the father is just disgusting,and to tink of it it helped arsenal we dont need small boys
it is a pity will miss out on the deal but sincerely……..we have so many whizkid in the waiting room!
‘The news has to go down as another blow to Arsenal’s summer transfer plans’ lol that is a stupid thing to say!!! your acting like this joel campbell is a superstar!! he has only played 3 games!! lol! maybe a blow for the reserves or youth team?? but not for the mighty arsenal!! who cares??? we got wellington who similar age and already signed…he can be our south american superstar in a few years not joel campbell!! lol! scored an awesum goal for costa rica tho so still woulda been nice to have him but if he is that unprofessional or arrogant than do we need him?? just a worse version of bendtner surely?? lol!!!
Don’t understand the ranting. It’s his Dad you know, and no current ranter was there to contribute to his weaning and development. it’s their right to choose what they think is best for them. Mind you, Arsenal is one team amongst the big 10 in Europe with the most near misses in the transfer market. they have also lost more players, and have more players wanting to leave, than anyone else. Is that the fault of the Mr. Campbell snr?
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Good. He can fuck off. Players like him who have loud mouthed dad’s can be unbearable at times. It’s a good thing we won’t have to deal with shit from this Humberto fella in the future. Let him go to another shit club and rot. Besides we have players in our academy who are younger and almost as good.
Get overself Martin ‘his father is disgusting’. You’re disgusting.
His father and the player are entitled to choose whomever they please and if it’s not Arsenal than so be it. Not everyone thinks that Arsenal football club are the only club in world football.
Maybe, just maybe, the kid from Costa Rica doesn’t actually support Arsenal.
There’s something here the father doesn’t realize –
The most experienced agents in the game will tell you: it’s always better to sell BEFORE an int’l tournament if your client has interest from one or more big clubs because you risk losing those clubs’ interest if your client fails to perform well at that tournament where all eyes will be watching him.
Campbell’s father better hope his son has one helluva tournament. Those big offers might not be there (or will be substantially reduced) if his son has a poor tournament.
his dad obviously dosen’t have faith in his ability and wants to extract as much cash as possible to live like a king. An absolute disgrace of a dad his not init for his sons potential future as if he was he would understand that arsenal is one of the best teams in the world where young players can grow to high level players if this is the case i hope he goes to a team like man city and rots.
I don’t believe this is arsenals fault more the condition of the transfer window in a whole. still hoping it will happen though.
People continue to take arsenal for granted much like helb and adebayo but as i am sure history will prove again if you take arsenal for granted you will regret it.
What a disaster. I’ve seen this kid play in the Copa America and his something really special. This guy will be huge!!!
Arsenal g0 and sign Lukaku instead !
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Insider sources say that Cesc is a gonner.
Probably turn out to be the next Messi, but Arsenal pulled out because Wenger wouldn’t pay his taxi fare from the airport.
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It took Nasri a few years to turn greedy. No need to get a player who acts like that right from the start.
53. Johnny. Maybe after watching Copa, Barca will wanna sell Messi coz he sucked. It’s a tournament and it’s not a good gauge.
We can never know how it will turn out. We can just wish him luck and his father lots of doors slammed in his face.
Kind of a relief that we didn’t get married to this family – this sounds like it would have been a nightmare when his contract ran out.
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I have gone through all the comments made above and one thing is clear,all the contributors are vintage Arsenal in this respect.We are as usual asking Campbell to go to hell,the same way we asked Cashly Cole,Flamini etc to leave if they want.The same way we are going to deal with Fabregas and Nasri without agreeing with the free fall this club is in.Let the truth be told,Arsenal is losing it’s attraction.Players now prefer non champion league teams over us.All we do is support a story teller coach who has clearly lost himself.
Hahahaha! Even a crappy player like him turns down arsenal. Your club is massive joke now. I think am to tired of laughing at the arsenal, it’s just sad now. Still a shitty club!
Do you not think your responsible for this! We have an amazing scouting network, ahead of the rest, we are trying to tie up the deal and it’s going well but you break the news, it’s all over twitter and before you know it, other teams are making offers!
You think arsenal fans are the only ones who read this??
Don’t be naive and keep your trap shut till deals are done, your blog is harming the club
He is really young for sure. But he is a real crack. I have seen him playing many matches, and he hasn’t got anything yet but he will get a lot. I guess everybody is underestimating him just because he is waiting and analizing other options. I wish he played for Arsenal because it is an amazing team in Europe, but if he doesn’t, you all might see his talent somewhere else and probably next door!!!
Many deals fall through for a number of reasons. His father may live to rue this decision as the most lucrative offer at this stage of his career is not necessarily the best one. Fabregas could have stayed at Barcelona but knew that only under the meticulous Wenger could his game reach the next level.
Arsenal are continuously signing promising youngsters but only a few will ever make it into the first team. Campbell should be delighted that Arsenal have identified him and offered him a golden opportunity. The lack of mutual respect Is symptomatic of the modern day footballer. It’s high time the club prioritised footballers who would “die for the shirt”.
Xavi in case you hadn’t realised this is an Arsenal blog! Clue’s in the bloody name!
Or are you a glory hunting Barça fan (with an unoriginal name) frantically searching to see if your bankrupt club are any closer to putting their money where their mouth is in signing Cesc?!
P.S. Thanks for Toral and Bellerin. Wenger will be back same time next year for the pick of the Nou Camp academy!
Sorry I cant get excited on missing out on him…..sounds more trouble than what he’s worth.
Have to agree with Andythegooner on this one.
Joel is gud 2 jst follow ur mind b4 is late.poor boi:-/
Lucky to have missed out on this one I reckon – no-one, and I mean no-one, had heard of him two days ago and now he’s behaving like he’s the new Pele. Another Adebayor/Nasri scenario averted nice and early. Good luck to him. And when I say “good luck”, I mean “shit off”
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1st of all its still a bit crazy how people still are unaware of the adebayor story… of how he “wanted to finish his career at arsenal” and how wenger “sat him down and told him he was being sold”.
It really is not that hard to grasp!… Someone who wanted to leave the club would not have had so much passion scoring against us!! you idiots.
btw I agree with all he comments, the guy is an absolute clown, great prospect, will be no surprise if he really is valued in the £30million bracket in 5 years.
But having the audacity to to so such disrespect is unforgiveable and as much as I would have liked to see him plying his trade with us, there are always other players… dont know y wenger is so keen on keeping nasri for example when someone like Douglas costa looks like he’ll be alot better at his age,
Crazy world, but life as gooner is something else! ATID
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“Probably turn out to be the next Messi, but Arsenal pulled out because Wenger wouldn’t pay his taxi fare from the airport.”
Can you justify this statement that Arsenal pulled out of the Campbell negotiations because Wenger wouldn’t pay his taxi fare from the airport? It seems at odds with other reports that say the Campbell father and son failed to turn up for negotiations. And which airport are you talking about? And why on earth would Wenger be paying their (his) taxi fare?
It all seems very odd. Please elaborate on your claims.
Have fun in man shitty, Joel. In about 4 years you will reach the bench, then they will sell you to whoever pays the most…
The boy is clearly inetrested in playing for a winner
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