Campbell keen for new deal and role in reviving Arsenal 'glory'
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Your support makes all the difference.Sol Campbell is in no doubt he can compete at the highest level again next season and wants to help bring the "glory" days back to Arsenal.
Arsène Wenger has confirmed he intends to sign a defender this summer, accepting Arsenal's performances at the back this year have been "average" in conceding 41 goals as they finished third in the Premier League.
Campbell, who will be 36 in September, returned to his old club in January on a short-term deal, and Wenger is keen to keep the former England captain - who led the Gunners at times during their 2003-04 unbeaten campaign - to give much-needed experience to a young squad, which has now not delivered a trophy in five years. Campbell sees no reason why he should not be at the club again next season as negotiations over a new contract continue.
"I fancy staying, of course I do," Campbell said. "I want to stay and I want to give it my all for at least another year. I could do two, but the manager never gives out two. We always want a little bit more. Give me one year and I will work every day and try to win a trophy and bring some kind of glory back to Arsenal. Deep inside I feel I have got two real gritty years left in me, the years in which I can affect things.
"If I am in the team I can really make a difference. I know that. And after two years I will look at it again and we'll see. After that I might only be able to play games here and there, who knows, but I think I can be an influence."
Campbell is hopeful an agreement can be reached. He said: "We will sit down, it has started and we will try to thrash something out. The negotiations are either going to be done in a week or two or it might take until July. We will have to see how Arsène sees me at the club."
The future of William Gallas, however, remains unclear. The French defender, 33 in August, was conspicuous by his absence from the players' lap of appreciation after the final game of the season against Fulham on Sunday, and chairman Peter Hill-Wood has described his wage demands – reported to be £80,000-a-week – as "quite extravagant". "We would very much like him to stay, but I think for one year, and not on the money he wants," Hill-Wood said.
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