According to reports from Mirror Football earlier this week, Arsenal are prepared to offer winger-forward Joel Campbell in a part-exchange for Sporting Lisbon prodigy William Carvalho.
The Portugal international is seen by many as the ideal remedy to Arsenal’s lack of physicality and defensive awareness in midfield, boasting a powerful 6 foot 2 frame, weighing in excess of 14 stone and famed for his simple-yet-effective playbreaking style – but he’s also a known Manchester United target, as Mirror Football claimed in a separate report last month.
Arsenal tried and failed to sign the 23 year-old on summer deadline day – as claimed by The Independent – but Sporting have since reduced Carvalho’s price-tag from £35million to £21.5million after restructuring all of their third-party ownership agreements – as The Daily Star reported in November – ensuring full profits from any future sale of the midfielder.
But Arsenal are hoping to make further savings by offering Joel Campbell in exchange.
The 22 year-old showed good form on loan at Oylmpiacos last season – scoring an incredible goal against Manchester United in the Champions League’s knock-out rounds – and also helped Costa Rica reach the quarter-finals of the 2014 World Cup, scoring twice and grabbing one assist.
But he struggled for game time in a squad including the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Danny Welbeck and Theo Walcott, and was resultantly sent on loan to Villarreal in January. It may take a permanent move away for Campbell to unleash his heralded potential.
Sporting Lisbon would certainly be a good step forward for the prodigious attacker, but United’s long-term interest could scupper the potential deal.