The ridiculous rumour linking Manchester United with former Tottenham, Arsenal, Portsmouth and, ahem, Notts County defender Sol Campbell was finally quashed today by Sir Alex Ferguson who claimed he had ‘no idea’ where the story came from. United’s recent defensive injury crisis would have started the rumour mill but could a player that was playing League two football earlier in the season step up to playing top European Football? No way.
Campbell was a great centre half in his day and played a massive part in Arsenal’s title wins in 2002 and 2004. When Arsenal signed Campbell on a free transfer I was speechless as I honest thought he make the sneeky move up North and line up alongside Jaap Stam. I couldn’t believe it when we missed out on the transfer (rumours stated that us and Inter Milan were front runners for his signature) and then sold Stam to Lazio! All summer I felt we need to strengthen our backline, after a disappointing Champions League campaign – where we were eliminated by Bayern Munich. Ferguson obviously felt our problems didn’t lie at the back after forking out nearly £50 Million for Ruud VanNistelrooy and Juan Sebastien Veron – and subsenquently brought in Lauren Blanc after the departure of the Dutchman to Italy. I thought, in his day, Lauren Blanc was a fine centre half. A great reader of the game – even if he was as slow as an lame donkey running up a hill. However, at 36 his best days were well behind him and I felt that had we kept Stam and brought in Campbell – we’d have been unstoppable. We were also linked to Lillian Thuram that summer, he was an immense defender – whom I’ve read was close to signing for United.
Today Ferguson was quoted as saying:
“I don’t know where that has come from, but it’s all wrong. Sol has had a great career, but he’s not the sort of player we are thinking about bringing to Manchester United. That deal is of no interest to us.”
So there you have it. Quite possibly the worst transfer rumour of all time has finally finished – a mere two days old. Poor old Campbell though, he was really looking forward to walking out at Old Trafford. It is amazing that anyone would think that a player of 36, could slot into straight away to a backline having never played with any of the players not to mention an extrme lack of fitness and match practise. Where is the logic in that! We could always ask Martin Buchan if he fancies a game….