Joel Campbell Given Arsenal Ultimatum

Arsene Wenger has laid down the law for young Mr. Joel Campbell. With the Costa Rican set to make his first Premier League start in his loan-filled career, Arsene Wenger had this to say:

“It is now or never for him with us. You go one time out, two times out – after that, you don’t know any more if you belong to the club or not. What is important for me is the next game. Football, and life as well, is play the next game like it was your last” (via the Guardian).

Strangely enough, Wenger seems to have plagiarized my comments about how Joel Campbell sill sink or swim this month but I’ll do my best to not hold it against him.

Putting an ultimatum on Joel Campbell is obviously designed with the outcome in mind that he shapes up and becomes a relevant asset to this club. It almost gets tiring constantly restating how much quality we have seen out of Joel Campbell in other competitions like La Liga, the World Cup, the Greek Super League. He just has it. He has often blistering pace, he dribbles well, he passes well. He does it all well. He even has a pretty fierce shot.

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Yet it has not translated to the toughest competition of them all, the Premier League.

And for some people it just doesn’t. That is the other half of the ultimatum. If Joel Campbell does not succeed with his ‘now or never’ then at the very least he is out of the way for someone else. With how much Campbell loves the club and with how much faith Arsene Wenger has showed in him, you would hate for that to happen but it is part of the game. It’s not not Joel Campbell can’t find somewhere else to ply his trade. As mentioned, he has had plenty of success in other leagues.

The Premier League is just not an easy league to play in. We have seen guys with as high quality as Angel Di Maria flounder and never make it. Granted, he was given just a year to prove himself. But it’s physicality and high-level of competition does not translate to all styles of play.

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All eyes on Joel Campbell against Swansea City. The pressure is on and he is well aware that he has to prove something. He doesn’t have to go all Lionel Messi on the match, but a little positive showing would do the trick.