Eurosport - Tue, 23 Jun 18:19:00 2009
Manchester United striker Fraizer Campbell, who could be on his way to Hull City, had to use his pace to the best of his abilities to get involved during England's 1-1 draw with Germany in the European U21 Championships on Monday.
Throughout the European U21 Championship we will be compiling scouting reports on some of the continent's biggest talents.
Background
Huddersfield-born Campbell, 21, came up through the youth ranks at Manchester United, signing professional terms at Old Trafford in July 2007.
The pacy forward was soon loaned out to Hull City, and his 15-goal haul in the Championship was a major factor in the Tigers' promotion to the Premier League that season.
However, he returned to United no closer to a first-team berth and was again loaned out, this time to Tottenham Hotspur on the same day that Dimitar Berbatov went the other way for a club record of £30.75 million.
Despite Spurs losing both Berbatov and Robbie Keane from their front line, Campbell did not feature regularly under either Juande Ramos or Harry Redknapp. He started the game in just one of his 10 Premier League appearances, and only netted just a single league goal.
Although Redknapp announced his intention to sign him following his brace against Liverpool in the Carling Cup, Campbell has once more returned to Old Trafford, Spurs seemingly unwilling to pay the £7.5m price-tag placed upon Campbell.
In the Euro U21 match against Germany, which England went into already assured of their place in the semi-finals, Campbell had to work hard for every touch of the ball.
Despite his diminiutive stature, Campbell used his pace and work rate to good effect, rarely coming off second-best against big defenders Marcel Schmelzer and Benedikt Hoewedes.
However, as England's lone frontman, Campbell was often left isolated, and was replaced after an hour by Theo Walcott.
Key moments:
14' - Campbell wins a corner off of Beck that leads to Jack Rodwell getting a header on target.
24' - Campbell outpaces Hoewedes as they chase the ball down the right flank, forcing the defender to haul him over and concede a free-kick in a dangerous area.
57' - Adam Johnson chips a ball forward that Campbell controls and holds up well despite two defenders around him, before laying it off for Danny Rose to have a shot on goal
Pace: 8/10
Movement: 7/10
Strength: 6/10
Finishing: 6/10
Heading: 5/10
Overall: 6/10
Approximate value: £6m
Possible destinations: Hull City, Portsmouth, Birmingham City
OTHER NOTABLE PLAYERS IN ACTION
ENGLAND (v Germany)
Michael Mancienne - Mancienne returned to the side after his red card in the opening match of the tournament with a point to prove, but within four minutes the Chelsea centre-back was culpable for Germany's goal, letting Gonzalo Castro get behind him and latch on to Jerome Boateng's through ball.
Richard Stearman - The Wolves defender managed to keep Germany forward Anis Ben-Hatira quiet for much of the match, and contributed to England's attacks, regularly supprting Andrew Driver on the overlap.
GERMANY (v England)
Manuel Neuer - The Schalke 04 number one was heavily linked with a move to Bayern Munich towards the end of last season, but the Gelsenkirchen-born goalkeeper dismissed talk of leaving his hometown club.
Caught any high balls that came near him in open play with confidence and authority, but was more hesitant to come off his line at set pieces. Could have stepped out to claim the corner that led to Rodwell's goal, although he had early parried and held another header from the Everton youngster.
Mesut Ozil - The Werder Bremen playmaker is German born but of Turkish descent, yet committed fully to the country of his birth when he turned out for the senior Germany side in a friendly against Norway in February.
The most creative player on the pitch against England at times showed good vision. Often a step ahead of his team-mates, would often attempt too much on his own and squander possession.
Marko Marin - The highly-rated Moenchengladbach midfielder has been heavily linked with a move to Werder Bremen.
Came on to replace Ben-Hatira for the final 25 minutes. Most of that time was spent tracking back to help his side avoid conceding a goal that could have seen them eliminated, although he did curl one effort wide from the edge of the area in the closing stages.
SPAIN (v Finland)
Bojan Krkic - Has had a poor tournament that has seen him dropped. The Barcelona forward was an unused sub in Spain's crunch match.
Diego Capel - The Sevilla winger was only given seven minutes to impress but even in that time he looked lively and forced Finnish keeper Jukka Lehtovaara into a good save.
Raul Garcia - Solid, if unspectacular for the most part form the Atletico Madrid man. Was economical with his passing and had a couple of efforts on goal - drawing one magnificent save from Lehtovaara.
FINLAND (v Spain)
Teemu Pukki - Had a couple of promising runs but was largely anonymous and was the Sevilla player was taken off at half-time.
Jukka Lehtovaara - Lehtovaara was by far the most impressive player from either side on the pitch and it is hard to imagine he will be playing for TPS in the Finnish Veikkausliiga for too much longer.
The shot-stopper, who has trained with West Ham, Chelsea, Liverpool and Fulham, made a string of fine saves including world class stops to deny Raul Garcia and Esteban Granero.
Comment 1 - 10 of 10
Man UTD train this player and then sell away. Whats the point?
They gave a lot of money to buy a new and old player (but they are famous), whats wrong?
Many player like Rossi and Campbell and recently Tevez should have been marvellous in Man UTD for another 10-15 years. Just insane. No one is as lucky as Macheda who scored his goal in first match. Give this player a few matches to adapt and a few match to score their first goal is making more sense.
It would appear that a brain-dead moron is using my ID. I normally describe the scousers as being "brain-dead" but it would appear that at least one Man U fan is similarly affected.
I Brian Sharman would like to point out that I did not make Comment 8.
Comment 7 are you seriously suggesting that Giggs deserved to be PFA Player of the year? If so, I would suggest that you spend your time watching events on the pitch rather than a bunch of players togged up in dinner suits. And besides, all of the knowledgeable Man U fans that I know and there are a lot of them, believe that Vidic should have been miles ahead of Giggs for the award. Here is a question for you numb nuts, how long ago is it since Giggs scored more than twelve goals in a season?
Don't sell him Fergie! 6 mil is nothing for his potential!! Once he bulks up and works on his strength Campbell's gonna be class
comment #4 bite your tongue... did the 'useless' Ryan Giggs not win the PFA player of the year award last year? He has more class in his little finger than you do in your whole body
What did i tell you Boy's three weeks ago Tevez and cruz done deals to city rubbish you all replied,i'm in the know listen to me in future.
But Good Luck for next season.
we were told that this player would be WORLD CLASS FOR UTD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It seems that SAF is out of touch with many players at the Club but this has not diminished his continuing fascination with the now useless Mr Giggs.
Campbell could have contributed more to Man U than Berbatov. I dont understand how they could give out such a talented young man plus money for a lazy player like Berbatov.
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account