Joel Campbell will have a medical this evening ahead of the completion of his transfer to Arsenal, his father Humberto has confirmed.
The deal was all but sealed last night, when Richard Law met with both player and family following a rival bid from another Premier League team. Law managed to persuade the family to ignore that interest, and after increasing the initial £930,000 bid to over £1 million, all parties are happy.
Humberto Campbell confirmed the plans for a medical this evening, in an interview with La Prensa Libre.
“These tests will be in the Cima hospital and supervised by the people of Arsenal.” Everything is virtually ready.”
Campbell senior also confirmed Arsenal will be lodging a bid for a special talent work permit, but this may have to wait until after the Under 20 World Cup.
More to follow.
ahh this is contradictory but i’ll take it.
Lets hope he can be officially announced this evening & fingers crossed on him getting a work permit
Sterling work Jamie
this transfer should happen
Hope we will secure him that visa-how big is our chance?
nice….very swift no bullshit…naw if they culd hunt all their targets like dat
Any rumours of the other club thtbcme in for him
On Wiki it says that he plays for Liverpool FC
We must really value him to increase our bid
“On Wiki it says that he plays for Liverpool FC”
Must be true then, as it’s not like anyone can edit Wikipedia.
tank fck hes not goin out on loan i tink he could be a surprise package
if you look at a couple of the games he’s played in the qualifiers so far, he is REAL class! So smooth with the ball at his feet, his vision and passing, he’s almost like an Henry clone. Excellent movement as well.
Jay, I saw him lining up a lot on the right wing, even though he played as a striker, I however saw somewhere that he played as a LW. So would like that clarified. Under Wenger, he could definitely make a world class leap, and there doesn’t seem to be a lot missing as it stands. Well, let’s see how that turns out. Crossing my fingers for that special talent visa for this guy! He’d be first team material, and would give Vela serious competition.
Don’t be silly young lad, this bloke will never be as good as Henry, in fact i’ll buy everyone on this site a pint if he turns out to be as good as vela.
for less money than the alleged other club offered, if there was indeed another club; then certainly this proves the competence, patience and calmness from the Arsenal staff which proves their competence
this vindicates those that still believe in the club. though we’ve had to up our bid the way we deal with transfers is not always wrong. no need to get into a full on bidding war!
well done Jay! thats a relief, and he looks good. At least it adds to the increasing rank of amazing talent of the current Arsenal U-20 group of players
sebjab what is that drivel you just came out with
The late interest from another club is a well known tactic to work in the players favour..it makes the original buying club act ie raise fee,or wages or makes them follow up the deal quicker..downings agent clearly used this against liverpool by claiming we approached him..was never the case..I reckon that’s what campbells agent/dad done here
It’s not so long since we had a Campbell number 9 :)
Quick update, Everardo Herrera, the news agency who broke news about Arsenal’s interest in Joel, have now also confirmed he’ll have a medical tonight.
Thanks for this Jamie.
Really excited about this signing. The way he scored the goals I’ve seen is incredible. He just strokes them into the goal with seemingly little effort. Looks like a real natural finisher.
I just hope the transfer goes through.
you and gunnerblog setup arsenal by pulling the trigger too early thus alerting the rivals.everybody knows its true if its on youngguns and is becoming counterproductive when info is leaked to rivals.
you and gunnerblog set arsenal up when you pulled the trigger too early.everybody knows its real if its on youngguns and its becoming counterproductive when info is leaked to rivals
i only dont understand 1 thing.even though he is having medical he will sign after u20 wc.if he performs well and some other clubs come for him he still can sign elsewhere.so what is the significance of this medical?
I don’t think he can be offered a contract without passing the clubs medical and drugs tests.
This is F**King Awesome!!!!!
I believe it might have been true about another clubs interest considering that no signed document in South America gets valid until after 48-72 hours, (depending on which country).
(I remember there were rumours that Arsenal tried to get the Silva twins to cancel their deal with Man u)
Can someone pleaase give me a proper extensive report on him!
Is he a winger? Tricky sort of dribbbler?
From what i have seen John he’s not what you would call a winger. For me he’s in the Daniel Sturridge / Vela mould
In a world where Stuart Downing is 20mill and young English players are wildly over-rated, I’ll gladly pay this small amount for a Costa Rican that probably has more talent than most of Liverpool’s new signings.
La Prensa reported that there are attempts to get documentation from the Costa Rican federation showing Joel’s participation in the national set-up so that he can be eligible for a work permit. In that case, no “special-talent” visa required, so more likelihood that he can join Arsenal sooner without requiring an extensive loan period (like what Wellington and Botelho are doing). That is excellent news.
Nice one mate, I thought we must have been pretty confident of getting him a work permit without loaning him to a Spanish club.
Jamie
I thought it was reported that Campbell has an Irish grandfather and thus should be able to get a work permit.
If we are going for a special talent permit I believe we can only get 1 per season so what happens if this guy gets the permit and Myachi doesnt?
Good to know d deal’s done. I believe he’ll give us d spark in attack we’ve been missing since Henry’s departure. We await more news after d medical. But I believe he’s a loyal lad. He won’t sign for anoda club after d U20 world cup. Joel Campbell belongs to us.
I don’t understand why we had to increase our bid? That but was already agreed with the club, I thought it was down to the player being offered better terms?
Not much more to pay so why worry, if he is that good he is a bargain, and i just wish he would sign Now and not later.
Just seen his replays on the tube. my goodness,the young man is technically sound! the way he dribbles, penetrating the defensive lines, electric pace, trickery, lethal finishing with his left foot, and his imposing flame, the young man is such a massive talent.
Chacarito, who?? motherf***r
welcome to arsenal and score many goals plz -.-
Visa? I thought his Granddad was Irish or something. Would that not normally do? I’m glad everything’s getting sorted though.
Who the f*ck is J.Hernadez ?
Great signing, lets hope we can get him over for this season and really help with breaking down the defensive walls so many teams put out against us, manure included, Rooney played RB for most of the game at Old Trafford. Decisive buying when we need to now lets finish it with a new CB, job done and then bring on next season.
As a saprissa fan I’m happy that campbell is in arsenal but £1 million is WAY to cheap I was hoping for 2 to 4 million but who cares.
Also I don’t know much about arsenal since I have not follow the gunners since the Henry years but one thing I know for sure Campbell IS ALREADY 1000000X better then Vela.
boom!
people have to come down over his youtube exploits and wait to see if he is as good as everyone seems to think he is because no one ever mentioned him before the last couple of days .i hope he is the next henry but im not saying he is better then hernandez already who had a fabulous season in front of goal in the best league in the world. just wait and see and i hope he never reads any blogs so he doesnt get to much pressure.well done jamie sanderson for good reporting aswell.
who had ever mentioned chicarito before he signed for united, i know i didn’t and i know a really good amount of players, chicarito was 22 so it would be extremely less likely that he would be unknown considering how long he was around (well longer than campbell)also he is playing in a much less known league than chicarito was
Yes, we’ll really have a great group of under 20s….but weren’t we saying that 5 years ago?
Good job.The gunners are preparing not just for this season but a decade of domination like barca are doing.
WENGER! I STILL GOT LOVE FOR YOU, YOU WILY OLD FOX!
AW should act fast 2 avoid intruders.d little time i ve seen play,dis lad is a real talent and i pray ARSENAL get him work permit.
Its a bit odd how other teams in the PL get work permits for players alot easier than we do.
Its just that everyone in England hates us and Wenger, and how we’re to “french”. Even people in power are like that.
Absolutely stunning signing this one!!! I think he’s gonna be AWESOME. Now all that is needed is a breakthrough season for kyle bartley and gibbs/traore, and we will have a really potent side on our hands!!
geesh he is 19 ,what impact can he make?
some of you make him sound like messi
Good news. I have started to watch some games on him. Watched the first half of the Bolivia game so far. They have the concacaf u20 qualifiers on ESPN3 (xbox) so I will probably be watching some of those too.
One thing I will say is we are moving from center attacking mids playing out wide to true wide forwards that play a direct style of football and runs at the defenders with pace and skill so that is good.
Now 2 me, we are just 2 moves away from a great summer. Of course sign Nasri but I doubt that will be easy when we all know Man Shity is sitting there ready to pay him a flat out stupid wage and then sign another defensive mid.
How do you guys feel about Frimpong? I am not sure yet all though I will say he looks a beast now. That dude looks huge.
i think they might be waiting until after the under 20 world cup so that if he doesn’t get a work permit he can go to one of the italian clubs like lazio and fiorentina who were alos interested. just a thought.
I have it on good authoritah that all this is part of an elaborate hoax. Watch this space.
I don’t think he will be a part of the first team. He has to adjust to the english lifestyle and the Arsenal way of playing. He is still young but with time he will get used to it. Remember that Chicharito played more than 60 matches for Guadalajara before he joined Man Utd.
Campbell only played 8 first-team matches for Saprissa and Puntarenas. In addition the Mexican league is stronger than the costarician league.
does he really need a special work permit when his grandfather is from Ireland and he chose between the Irish and Costa Rica National team…
andib
The number of games you play doesn’t really matter. From what I’ve seen this boy is big and will emulate Anelka.
Bouldy
Of course it matters. I have been watching Costa Rica in both CA and Gold Cup, and I think he will become a great player WITH time. He needs physical strength. It was too easy for Burdisso and Milito to push him away.
El Nacion report that Campbell is having a medical.
They however stress that this is a generic medical and not specifically for a transfer to Arsenal. This medical will confirm to the bidding clubs that he is fit.
Campbell’s father states that no decision has been made on which offer they will accept.
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nacion.com%2F2011-07-18%2FDeportes%2FHoy-le-realizaran-pruebas-medicas-a-Campbell-previo-a-una-eventual-venta.aspx
The other clubs that are mentioned are Fiorentina, Dynamo Kiev and Sevilla.
This is the link to the article in spanish:
http://www.nacion.com/2011-07-18/Deportes/Hoy-le-realizaran-pruebas-medicas-a-Campbell-previo-a-una-eventual-venta.aspx
Its more a question of the accuracy of the info we are getting. If the fee was agreed with the 2 clubs, then it wouldnt need to be raised man.
Plus, we are hardly flushed with cash anyway, so of course we need to keep a lid on our outgoings.
Exactly, there is a lot of different information from webpages in CR.
Anyhow, I guess you will end up with Campbell.
I believe that Campbell is getting a cut of the transfer fee so maybe Arsenal raised their offer to sweeten the deal.
I shouted “yes come on” whilst reading this article…
We have some crazy fans! Why such excitement? Wenger needs players for now not 2-3yrs..he maybe good but IMO I’d have liked Wenger to splash the cash this summer personally wether we overpaid or not it wud have showed intent…I see so many negatives turning to positives over a costa rican teenager..let’s cut to the chase..I ain’t happy til I see a beast centre back signed
So annoying when people bring up a center back over and over again. Our top 3 are better then any name that has been suggested so far and unless we are going to sign Matt Hummels then why waste the money.
Also love how people ignore that we have already brought in 1 ready now player in Gervinho. We don’t need 12 new players so why the rush. Get the right 2 or 3 that we need. We also have a couple players now hitting the age where they are ready to step in like Vela for instance.
No idea whether this lad is good but Arsenal will get the work permit without much hassle.
Whilst the rule is that the player has to play a certain percentage of games for his country, in practice it means that he has to play a percentage that he was available for since he fiat played for his country. He is a regular now so he will be fine.
He won’t need special talent visa like Denilson and Song.
Campbell will decide AFTER the U20 World Cup according to his father
http://www.everardoherrera.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3974:oficial-padre-de-joel-campbell-dice-que-negociaran-hasta-despues-del-mundial-sub20&catid=34:primera-division&Itemid=56
he already had arsenal medical.
reading different papers with contradictory statements you will end up confusing yourself. it makes sense that all will be finalised after the world cup coz arsenal football club still have to submit his application for work permit.
would man u and dynano give him another medical while he’s in colombia? no
daddy is just an agent, his club already accepted the bid. anything he will negotiate further could personal term and we will match man u or kiev coz we pay our kids better anyway.
@Sam
I don’t know if you understand spanish, but with the article there is also a file with an interview with his father, and he is talking about the transfer. I dont know if you know anything about the costarician webpages but I lived in Costa Rica for almost a year, and know that everardoherrera.com is quite reliable when we are talking about football because the are only dealing with football.
Sorry, at everardoherrera they are more or less only dealing with football. They have some other sportsnews
And according to the article the other english club is Man Utd
This doesn’t sound good. The Anelka brothers don’t seem to have anything on this guy’s Da.
Arsenal should set a deadline on this – he hasn’t even signed for us yet and everyone connected with him is whoring him around.
This guy advisers are clearly not interested in Arsenal whole heartedly
Great talent but wonder if its better to look elsewhere if he’s not fully up for it
Shame
I think the club will walk away from this.
He is course considering his options. He has to think about his future.
Thanks for the link andib. From the interview sounds like his father is not thst interested in the Arsenal offer.
NP, Sven.
I guess they didn’t have time to listen to any other offers after CA. Of course Arsenal is an interesting club for everyone, but maybe they’ll find another club, where he’ll be promised first team football.
From my point of view, he is far from first team footbal in Arsenal yet.
He won’t join Man Utd. It would be ridiculous.
man u. man city an liverpool are interesting in campbell
those teams are able to pay more money for cambell because arsenal just want to pay 1.4$
arsenal have the edge in the matter that saprissa alredy accept de offer and joel wanna play the gunners, however; since 2005 liverpool has connection with saprissa because of the fail signin on Cristian Bolaños.
i hope campbel signin 4 arsenal, but the issue here is the visa, because joel want to stay an play for arsenal but if this situation do not happen, italy soccer teams can be the winners (fiorentina, chievo verona, palermo, internationale)
Campbell said his son should focus on global rather than their employment with another club
Just when you thought everything was ready for the player to be linked to Arsenal English, Joel’s father spoke out and said the future of your child as defined after the Under 20 World Cup Colombia.
“Nothing here has been negotiated, it is important to discuss things with a cool head. We have other offers on the table we are looking carefully, it is a fact that is defined after the world goes on, “said Humberto’s father Joel Campbell.
Therefore, the player must wait to determine his future in football.
Joel travel tomorrow with the U 20 bound for Colombia to participate in the World Under 20
he is in guys.
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Transfer-news-Arsenal-sign-Costa-Rica-striker-Joel-Campbell-of-Deportivo-Saprissa-article771520.html
Guess we won’t know for sure untilsome club (hopefully Arsenal) announce it officially after sub 20 WC…
Hate waitnig in vain and not knowing if we clinched it or not!
I see a couple of people are still complaining that Jamie shouldn’t give us the heads-up in case it alerts other clubs. If that’s true, then can we get a few teams to waste money on total rubbish by putting some untrue stories up here :)
I don’t believe any reports any more regardless of whether it is this site or any other. Especially after we had supposedly signed Ricky Alvarez on a free lol. I just come here to talk football.
Guys, I read the report in La Nacion and Campbell’s father stated that no decision will be made until after the U20 World Cup. He will be informing Arsenal of this decision later today. He said that this is not a definite rejection of the offer but they want time to consider the other offers.
http://www.nacion.com/2011-07-18/Deportes/futuro-de-campbell-se-decidira-hasta-despues-del-mundial-sub-20.aspx
To me this seems that the father is hoping that his son plays a great U20 World Cup so they can ask for more money. He has financially better offers on the table from other teams.
My feeling is that this is all about the money. I think Arsenal will walk away from this and I wouldn’t blame them if they did.
Watched some of his videos… i like the anticipation in his movement. He only scored two goals although in Copa Gold and Copa Americas… But you could tell dat with good timing and more coaching he can make his anticipation pay dividends…. There is talent though i’m a bit hesitant to say whether its a flash in the pan or not because i haven’t watched any of his videos for his club… but i think he is worth it…. i would like to see a bit more tracking back in him. I think that would signal a bit more of a willingness to fight in my eyes. but i think i like him….
yea i hv watchd him on several games (international).,he punishd the swiss at u20 wc wit a stunning goal..he is ready to take defenders wit his silky dribbls,pace n confidence..wenger must do this quick coz manure n sevilla r waiting…guys cn smone update us wit mata!
I can never understand the talent visa thing. Denilson got one but Yaya Toure didn’t back in the day. Hopefully he does end up with us. Looks a big talent.
Denilson was captain of Brazil’s under 19s at one point, that is how he got the permit.
young guns has nothing to do with leaking the story.
his dad is his agent he could have phoned other teams himself and invited them to bid.
plus, he just shined in cupa america so the whole world saw him.
the alvares deal took too long with arsenal official bargaining over few bucks.
great another crap striker on loan to austria. in wenger we rust. sacked by xmas bring in avram grant or sam allardyce
hahaha wow! Those two managers would be diabolical at Arsenal. You don’t have a few bulldogs at home do you?
Yes! Or that other lad, Eriksson. Hodgson, anyone?
I envy the spuds now, that guy Redknapp is freaking good in find talent all over the world, pay the right price and then go accomplish things like doubles and unbeaten records at top level. That french cunt Wenger can’t even overpay for the players we know for sure are world class, although they only played for mid-level clubs with no ambition whatsoever.
Well greed has ruind talents before. If he chooses money over development then its his loss.
United already have to many strikers with more good young ones coming up. Going there would be to ask for not succeding. especially atm when they got so many good players in the positions of Cambell
Patrick your a moron!
wow he can score with both feet from good angles too….. and he did score a lot of good goals… im tripping.
This whole transfer is strange. Am I correct in saying that he is having a medical but it is not connected to any specific team or impending transfer?
The whole thing will be sorted out after the U/20 World Cup?
Is this correct?
he had medical with arsenal. i dont know why the media still talking about other team.
to make the story more interesting i guess.
gervinho had medical 2 weeks ago and his papers only finalised today and he signed. campbell’s will probably take longer.
The doctor who was in charge of the medical today was Willy Gálvez who is a part of the Saprissa medical staff. The medical wasn’t connected to any specific team. Joel Campbell and his father will look at the different offers after the world cup to decide whether to join Arsenal or another team.
Joel Campbell vs Argentina
http://youtu.be/-4kOzKgWmQE
I am confused. So what is Jamie reporting then or is he just giving a false report? I don’t believe any articles from anyone anymore until it is on the Arsenal website.
He is reporting on a story that was true 12 hours ago, but changed since. The father came out and said that they will wait until after the u20 world cup
http://www.nacion.com/2011-07-18/Deportes/futuro-de-campbell-se-decidira-hasta-despues-del-mundial-sub-20.aspx
Arsenal have pulled out of the Campbell deal.
The deals off apparently we were not impressed by his medical.
La Nacion report that the player and his father stood Arsenal up. Saprissa had arranged a final meeting between Law and Campbell for 7pm and they never bothered to show up. Campbell explained that his son was having a medical at that time. The father was not bothered when he heard that Arsenal had pulled out and in his words: “When one door closes, many more open up”.
http://www.nacion.com/2011-07-19/Deportes/joel-campbell-dejo-plantado-al-arsenal.aspx
I think we dodged a bullet here as just imagine the problems we would have had with his Dad in the future if his spn didn’t get enough first team games :).
sorry meant to write “son”. Not finished my coffee yet!
i dont think we were very impressed with an unknown 19 year old trying to hold us randsom to over the u20 wc neither. His dad is fishing for better offers. He wants to join a better club than Arsenal that basically means hes holding out for United, Real or Barcelona.
I doubt that will happen so the kid will probably go to Sevilla or genoa or Wigan or something and develope there.
Hope the kid makes it. He had the oportunity to join a CL club and develop there, now he probably chooses to join a mid table spanish or italian club instea for 1k more a month in pocket money.
couldnt agree more, his dad is a money-grabbing wanker and puts money ahead of what is best for his son. Could well have blown the biggest opportuntiy his son would ever get.
Couldn’t agree more, we are well shot of this one. Reminds me of the Anelka situation in the early days when his brother could only think about engineering a move to RM. Just imagine in a couple of years time when it is announced that his “dream” was to play for RM, Barca etc. Long term I wonder if we are wasting our time scouting South America, the best will always end up in Spain or Portugal where there are no work permit problems, Vela lost 3 years development in Spain, same with Botelho and I suspect similar with Wellington.
So is the deal off then? I am up for any top talent at the club no matter how old. Patrick I hope you were joking when you said about bringing Avram Grant in. I like the guy (Although he looks like Baron Greenbache) but he would be 10 steps back). It does look like his Dad is going to try and squeeze every penny out of this deal. He should be thinking about long term investment not the fact that he could get an extra few pennies now. Got a feeling nothing will happen with Wellington, does not seem to have the right attitude. Most of time I don’t believe its Wengers fault for some of the talent not actually turning into talent. Arsenal really look after there youth. If your good enough, your good enough.
This is why Wenger shud buy men and not boys! How many times must we suffer before he realises that these players become good then leave..if he buys honest proven players who want to succeed rather than fill pockets,players who r further into there careers like Scott Parker,jagielka,given and so on we will b great again!! Starting to get really bothered by Wenger!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLqPCZlAQNQ&feature=related
Get what your saying Ash and I think you need to balance the 2. You are only going to hear about young signings on this particular website though. Like you I would like to see Jagielka or parker at Arsenal, just for some solid English stability and I was slightly frustrated that we could of gone in for Given, although I believe that ‘Chesney’ will turn out to be a decent keeper. It’s frustrating times for us gooners but according to sources the transfer kitty is far from closed, they are working hard with some decent targets but they are keeping their dealings private. Only time will tell. Need a left back to cover Gibbs, or for Gibbs to cover. Would you have Jose Enrique? looked dodge to start with but came on leaps and bounds last year.
Joel Campbell’s dad is a clearly a cretin. Shame on him and I hope his son flops.
Yes think this deal is off now…as just announced on Sky sports ..that we have failed to agree personal terms with Campbell
Much as we all like the gossip is it sensible publishing details of deals like this at critical moments just before they sign?
Seems like another club has offered him more money at the final moment.
I really disappointed that we couldn’t snap up this kid, but I do wish him all the best. Obviously his father is a money hungry kind of person and has no interest in what is best for his son. Although, I can still see us signing him if Joel Campbell himself stands up and takes his future into his own hands, because all of the talk is being done by his father. All I have heard from Campbell is that he would love to join Arsenal.
This is just hilarious. We cannot even sign a completely unknown 19 year old from Costa Rica. Arsene deserves everything that is happening to him and his team now. Fabregas, nasri leaving. RvP and Walcott have 1 year left next year as well. Why would they stay when the club shows no ambition?
I don’t get it, some 19-year old Costa Rican gets greedy and we back off, and everybody crying out loud that why we didn’t sign this fella, like he was going to be some saviour of Arsenal FC and they’ve never even heard about him before this, what a desperation, anybody will do for this bunch of hyenas!
To be honest this deal is far from dead, his father seems to be from the Anelkas brother breed of agent and is just hoping that good performances will increase our wage offer. If he has a great U20 World Cup it may cost us a couple of thousand more a week, but it will also probably push through his “special talent” work permit. I honestly can’t see him signing for anyone else as the player himself stated that he wanted to go to Arsenal, his father was happy for him to have a medical and his club wanted the deal to happen. Couple all of this with him wanting first team football and that Arsenal have a much better track record of bringing youngsters through… it seems unlikely that he would opt for elsewhere.
The deal is dead.
Arsenal will not hang around and wait to see if he will sign, we will go about our transfer business and strengthen the squad. Its unfortunate that campbell has a father that makes his decisions for him.
If it happens then great, if it doesnt then we are not any weaker and we added more to our reputation that we can not be held for ransom.
Not from man city, not from barca and not from agents of unknown players.
Arsenal4life
Arsenal backed out and rightly so. The guys dad is mucking about trying to play smart and get money. Apparently there is no other club wanting him and his dad lied to get a better deal.
He failed to turn up at the medical and Ray told him to fuck off now their begging lmao.