When Sol Campbell left Arsenal in 2006, it left a gaping hole in the centre of defence. It was a gap that was difficult to replace, so much so that the Gunners resigned the centre back in 2010 to help plug their leaky defence. Vincent Kompany was a player that Arsene Wenger was looking at to replace Campbell, with the Belgian impressing clubs across Europe with his performances for Anderlecht. With Campbell gone, Arsenal looked into signing Kompany and the players agent admitted Wenger was very keen on the centre back. Tottenham were also interested, but both clubs missed out as Hamburg signed the Belgian for £5 million. Four years later, he joined Manchester City, eventually becoming the clubs captain.
Simon is an NCTJ qualified sports journalist. He has conducted interviews with Tony Adams and Peter Shilton, while also having work published in The Daily Telegraph and The Sun. Follow him on Twitter via @sr_collings.
