Arsene Wenger was often accused of being stubborn when he was at Arsenal.
The legendary Frenchman spent over two decades as the Gunners’ boss, and he completely transformed them. He is one of the biggest reasons why they are among the biggest clubs in the world today.
Wenger was the one who called all the shots at Arsenal, especially after David Dein left the club. He did everything on his own for so long.
To be fair to him, Wenger got a lot of decisions right, but at times, he refused to make certain calls that baffled the people around him.
Here’s one such incident, but Wenger eventually changed his mind.
Sol Campbell shares how he made Arsene Wenger change his mind and re-sign him for Arsenal
Sol Campbell is adored by Arsenal fans for leaving Tottenham Hotspur and joining them.
The Englishman was among the best centre-halves in the world at the time, and he shocked everybody by choosing to become a Gunner on a free transfer.
Campbell did well at Arsenal in his five-year stay and won two Premier League titles. In 2006, he decided to leave the club on a free transfer and joined Portsmouth.
Three years later, in September 2009, Campbell found himself without a club and couldn’t move to a new side again until January. So, he trained at Arsenal for a few months.
At the time, Wenger had absolutely no interest in signing him, but Campbell changed his mind.
“Going back there, Arsene didn’t want to sign me, Campbell revealed on the Stick To Football podcast.
“He said ‘you’ve left and that’s it, people who leave the club are never going to get the same heights again’. That was in his head and I kind of changed that. Then, after that, he started to kind of sign all these players (like Thierry Henry for his second spell). I changed his mentality.”
Campbell revealed that Wenger’s staff persuaded the Frenchman to give Campbell an opportunity, and it all came down to a test in training.
“He’s got me in there for training,” he said. “At the end of the session is one-on-ones. He said ‘Sol, in you go’. Then, (he looked around, thought about it) Cesc (Fabregas), you go’.
“He picked someone who was really going to put me under pressure.
“But, I came up trumps and I destroyed him and I had a really good session. And you know what? He just walked off in a huff (because I proved him wrong). And then, he signed me.”
READ MORE: Sol Campbell names the toughest strike partnership he ever came up against in his football career
Four other players left Arsenal and rejoined the club in the Premier League era
It’s not very common to see players leave a club and then come back to re-join them.
In the Premier League era, five players have done that at Arsenal on permanent deals – Campbell was one of them. Here are the others.
| Appearances before leaving | Days away | Appearances after returning | |
| Mathieu Flamini | 153 | 1885 | 93 |
| Jens Lehmann | 199 | 989 | 1 |
| John Lukic | 261 | 2192 | 21 |
| Martin Keown | 27 | 2410 | 422 |
One of the most popular returnees at Arsenal was Thierry Henry. The Frenchman came on a short-term loan deal in 2012 and played seven games for the Gunners, scoring two goals.
Campbell’s second spell only lasted half a season. He played 14 times in all competitions before leaving the club again on a free transfer.
