Limited ambition to match talent (Sol Campbell)

Member Name: GroundZero

Product:	Sol Campbell
Date:	04/07/01 (109 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Strength

Disadvantages: Greed, Not a world class defender, Greed

So, after month’s of speculation, one of the world’s top defenders has left his mediocre mid-table side to sign for a club with real ambitions of European success. So if Lilian Thuram can leave Parma for Juventus, it’s a shame the more modestly talented Sol Campbell can’t see beyond a transfer to Arsenal.

For months now Campbell has been harping on about his desire to win things (and not just to pocket a small fortune). He claimed he was leaving Spurs because he felt it was time that he started playing at the top level, not merely the big fish in a small pond as he found himself at Spurs.

Arsenal at the moment are not a club that appear capable of challenging for major honours. Campbell is kidding himself if he thinks that they have a realistic chance of success with their current squad, and maybe he should have paid a little more attention to those persistent rumours that suggest that Arsene Wenger will be leaving for pastures new in a year’s time. Patrick Vieira’s recent public outburst over Arsenal’s lack of progress seems to have been completely missed by Campbell. Vieira is a more accomplished player than Campbell can ever dream of becoming.

Of course, all this would only really matter if Campbell had indeed joined Arsenal with the aim of winning things. The more realistic reason is the pots of money offered to him. His refusal to sign a new deal at Spurs, when he publicly castigated the club for their unwillingness to pay him what he thought he was worth suggested that money was the be all and end all in his decisions.

The figures being bandied about recently in terms of Campbell’s wages would have you believe that he is one of the world’s best defenders, after the going rate. But is he really that special? There are many better defenders around than Sol. Desailly and Stam in the Premiership show just how far he is from being truly world class. His main attribu
te is his sheer strength, but nowadays world class defenders need more to their game than simply the ability to outmuscle opposing strikers. His distribution is not the best, and although he does have the characteristics of a leader, he leads through his strength rather than by his skill on the ball.

Perhaps he knows that by signing for Spurs arch enemies, he will avoid the attention he would attract as England’s “star” export. Instead he has managed to upset the Spurs faithful, and doubtless won’t be welcomed back to White Hart Lane with any warmth.

The only small consolation for Spurs fans will be seeing Campbell continue to underachieve with their North London rivals. If he had really wanted to test himself as a player, he would have joined a club with a real chance of winning things, not a team who appear to be on the downward slide.

Summary: