Sol Campbell was one of the best defenders in the Premier League during his time at Arsenal.
The Englishman arrived at the club in controversial fashion, ditching rivals Tottenham on a free transfer in the summer of 2001.
He’d go on to make almost 200 appearances for the Gunners, winning two league titles and three FA Cups in the process.
Deployed at the heart of Arsenal’s back four in the 2003/04 Invincibles season, Campbell is widely considered to be in the elite bracket of centre-backs who have grace the English top flight.
- READ MORE: The brutal difference between Arsenal and Tottenham as Sol Campbell shares dressing room revelation
Sol Campbell compares himself to other Premier League centre-backs
Rio Ferdinand believes Campbell was better than William Saliba is now, and that’s certainly a glowing indictment of the level the former Spurs man was able to produce.
However, the outspoken Arsenal legend doesn’t just think he’s better than Saliba ever has been, but has hinted that he believes he was better than Virgil van Dijk is.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Campbell claimed that it’s easier playing as a central defender in the modern day than it was in his era.
“I think when you look at it, you’ve got Virgil van Dijk and those guys in there,” he said.
“When you look at the players I played against as centre-forwards, you’ve got Thierry, you’ve got Dennis, you’ve got big Dunc – he gave you a big tough problem in the air and physically.
“Then you’ve got Emile Heskey, Dwight, Shearer, Coley, all these guys, Dion Dublin, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Rooney. All these guys are coming with a different kind of, you had to change your game.
“You had to be it all. You can’t just be ‘oh I wanna be this’. You had to kind of compete. I don’t think those kinds of players are around now in abundance centre-forward wise… I think so, yeah [that it’s easier to be a centre-back now than back then].
“Don’t get me wrong, there’s quality forwards but that kind of era, Ian Wright. You know, I had to deal with him! Trying to have him chatting in my ear all the time.
“Les Ferdinand… Mark Hughes, I had to play against him.”
Asked whether he’s up there with with the likes of Ferdinand, Van Dijk, John Terry, Nemanja Vidic and Vincent Kompany in the best defenders in Premier League history conversation, he responded: “For sure, because I had to deal with all sorts of players… Just look at the quality of players I played against and the quality I did consistently over 10, 20 years.”
In the same podcast, Campbell revealed that five big clubs tried to sign him at various points in his career, including the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United, with this interest another indication of just how good he was.
Sol Campbell on the Invincibles team
Aside from revealing where he almost ended up and comparing himself to other defenders, Campbell also spoke on the Invincibles.
Arsenal went an entire season unbeaten in 2003/04, and the Plaistow-born man was the leader at the heart of the Gunners’ defence that season.
Asked who he was close to in Arsene Wenger’s squad, he replied: “I think Ashley [Cole] was great. Thierry [Henry] as well. Patrick [Vieira] was good.
“Martin [Keown] in a strange way, he was good and then Dave [David] Seaman as well.”
The Invincibles famously went 49 games unbeaten in the league, with a defeat at Old Trafford in October 2004 preventing them from reaching the 50-match mark.
Wayne Rooney was accused of diving to win a penalty in the encounter, and Campbell refused to speak to the United striker after the incident.
“Obviously it hurts because you want it to be done properly, don’t you? You wanna lose proper. It is what it is. But you move on.”
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