Part 1: 32 Greatest footballers in the history of the English Premier League
1. Sol Campbell:
Sol Campbell is definitely one of the players, who made an impact in the English Premier League by being a part of teams like Tottenham Hotspurs along with Arsenal, Portsmouth and even Newcastle United, which he recently joined.
Sol Campbell was born in England to Jamaican parents and even though he was given “racist” views during the start of his career he still managed to make his way to the top and outran many defenders when it went down to performing good football. Even though
he is a defender he still managed to impress the fans by performing extraordinarily for whichever team he was playing in.
Campbell started his career from the English side Tottenham Hotspurs. The youth academy of the team was near to his house and he managed to run his way through as a little kid and used to play the game that he loved the most, football.
After joining Tottenham Hotspurs, first he was made to warm the bench even though the coach saw the talent that he possessed. His ability to clear the ball was simply outstanding and with the help of his gigantic figure, Sol Campbell managed to mark his
man tight. His ability to steal the ball from others was outstanding as well.
After appearing for Tottenham Hotspurs for 255 times in the English Premier League, it was expected that the central defender was going to stay in the London club. However, his plans changed when local rivals, Arsenal decided to pay for him. He was transferred
to Arsenal while the Tottenham thought of him as a “traitor” for the Spurs.
After joining Arsenal, Sol Campbell became an integral part of the English team and started to feature as a regular player as his ability to defend was simply outstanding. After warming the bench for a little while, Arsene Wenger decided to play him in the
first team and soon he started to feature as a first team player. Alongside Arsenal he managed to win the English Premier League without losing a single game. The team was called “the invincibles” because of how they dominated throughout that league and how
they didn’t even lose a single game for one season and a few matches.
By being a part of the “invincible”, Campbell showed the team that he could simply do wonders for them and then in 2006, alongside players like Thierry Henry Arsenal managed to go to the final match of the UEFA Champions League. They were against one of
the best teams in the world during that time, Barcelona. The match was supposed to be a thriller as both the teams played the same style of football with a 4-3-3 formation. Barcelona had players like Samuel Eto’o while Arsenal had the legendary Thierry Henry.
Even though it was Arsenal’s goalkeeper who made a late tackle on Samuel Eto’o to earn a red card, with the help of Campbell, Arsenal managed to lead the game 1-0. With an inch perfect ball given to the central defender, he managed to head the ball into
the net and scored one of the most important goals of his career. However, their dreams of becoming European Champions were shattered as Barcelona managed to win the match 2-1 as Eto’o and Beletti were the two players who managed to score one goal each to
end the match in favour of Barcelona.
Campbell then left Arsenal after the “invincibles” were over as Henry left for Barcelona and many others retired. Campbell went on to join Portsmouth but he wasn’t really a big success in the club and only managed to appear 95 times for the English club.
In recent times he managed to come back to Arsenal but he couldn’t find his form back so he was disposed off to Newcastle United as Arsene Wenger didn’t really need him in the “young” squad that he possessed.
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