Originally Posted by
I am invisible
I haven't seen enough of Campbell to have formed a really strong opinion about him yet, but on the few occasions I have seen, he has looked like he has something about him?
I just don't see why it needs to be a one-or-the-other choice though? We have the money to buy Balotelli outright, and we don't need to sell Campbell - AC migtht have asked for him to be included in the deal, but that doesn't mean we have to agree to it. I'm sure if we said no, they'd be happy enough with the big pile of money instead - that's what they'd be looking at from most other clubs they tried to sell to, so it's not really a huge setback for them. I think they're just trying their luck here (assuming there's any truth to it).
I also don't think that keeping Campbell would leave us too overloaded in the wide areas? In fact, I would go as far as to say that I think we could recall Campbell AND sign a big name wide-attacker, like a Sanchez or a Reus, and that would leave us just about right in terms of numbers and the balance between youth and experience:
- Gnabry is still very young, and I think he'd probably benefit more from going out on loan than Campbell would (again)
- Oxlade-Chamberlain fills in everywhere, not just out wide, and will probably me moved central sooner rather than later (maybe even immediately if the stories about Cazorla going back to Spain are to be believed)
- and Walcott is fairly injury prone, and will already miss the first few months of the season (and probably then struggle for match fitness for weeks/months after he's back)
(I know there's also Podolski, but I really don't know where he fits in at the moment? His goal return is fantastic for the minutes he gets, but I'm not sure he offers enough to be considered a genuine wide-man? I'd consider him to be more of a utility man, who can fill in anywhere across the entire front line, but even he might fancy a move back to Germany, if some of the rumours are right?)
So, playing fantasy football for a second, if we bring Campbell back AND make another big-name signing in the wide areas, I'd be looking at something like this as our wide options...
[Johnny Big-Name]
Walcott
Oxlade-Chamberlain
Campbell
...with Gnabry as an additional option, who we can either send out on loan for the experience if he's not needed just yet, or who we could keep, and include as part of our wide options in the event that we either don't make that additional big-name signing that I'm hoping for, or we decide to move Chamberlain into the centre. But whatever happens, we're basically looking at 4 decent options for 2 positions here - 2 more experienced players, and 2 younger ones - and I think is about right for a long season at the highest level (especially when you factor in international matches too). And in terms of effective rotation (which is ultimately the point of this), I'd be happy to split the games more or less equally between those guys all season, which would hopefully keep everyone fresh and happy...
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