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Premiership Football News: Sol Campbell

Campbell owes much to Wenger's faith by Marc Fox

Sol Campbell has never had a closer ally than Arsene Wenger, and the Frenchman has given the returning 35-year-old the ideal platform to pep up Arsenal's title challenge by insisting he could yet make Fabio Capello's 23-man cut for the World Cup.

There's little doubt Campbell has endured more than his share of abuse from the terraces, much of it racist and homophobic in nature and dished out by the Spurs fans that once worshipped him.

But Wenger has remained a staunch supporter throughout, perhaps even more so since Campbell's Arsenal departure after scoring in the 2006 Champions League final loss to Barca.

He never hesitated when asked if Campbell could join in with the Gunners's training sessions after September's much-publicised split from Notts County after one competitive game at the League Two side.

That decision has since proved the catalyst for Campbell to prove his fitness and desire to return to the big time

Wenger, for one, has always maintained Campbell was good enough for the Premier League and has not once ruled out bringing him back. Indeed, Wenger never wanted Campbell to leave the Gunners in the first place.

There's never been any suggestion that the former England central defender was shown the exit door at Arsenal despite a turbulent series of events that culminated in Campbell walking out of Highbury at half-time in a Premier League match against West Ham with his side 2-1 behind.

Campbell was allowed to compose himself in private, and despite missing 10 weeks of football, returned to start the Champions League decider and even retained his place in Sven-Goran Eriksson's 2006 World Cup squad.

Instead, it was Campbell who pushed to leave the club who had plundered him from deadly rivals Tottenham five years before. After signing a short-term deal until the end of the season this week, he admitted he should never have left.

"Sometimes when you go away you realise what a top club Arsenal is. Slowly but surely everyone moves on, but sometimes you move away and you rethink things," Campbell said.

As Wenger this week recalled, Campbell was 31, no longer an England regular in the heart of the defence and sought a fresh challenge away from the torment of North London.

"Life is life, he wanted to stop and go abroad," remembered the Arsenal boss. "We live in a world where everyone is free to decide what he wants to do in his life. He wanted to go. I could understand at his age."

Turkish club Fenerbahce headed the list of overseas suitors - it appeared on the surface the ideal move. But Campbell instead chose Portsmouth, a club on the up where he struck up a decent rapport with Sylvain Distin and captained them to FA Cup final success in 2008.

At the end of his Portsmouth deal followed his calamitous move to Notts County, the club he quit in September alleging promises of other high profile signings following him into Meadow Lane had been broken.

Under Football League regulations, Campbell could not sign for another club until January, but Wenger was again there for him when it mattered most.

Campbell is held in such high regard by Wenger that he is the first player the French coach has brought back to Arsenal as the club chase their first silverware for five years.

And although as strong as ever in the air, it is his influence in the dressing room that appeals to Wenger most and the behind-closed-doors impact that Campbell might have on his youthful title challengers.

What's more, Wenger has backed Capello to keep Campbell in mind for this year's showpiece tournament in South Africa, while former team-mate Martin Keown said that if Campbell had a sniff of the first team William Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen would have a real challenge displacing him.

Keown told the BBC: "Sol's a bit like a train. Once he's fired up and you've got him going in the right direction he takes a hell of a lot of stopping. They'll have a job getting him out of the team if he can get into it."

Marc Fox

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