Joel Campbell joins Sporting Lisbon on loan

And just when Joel Campbell was probably getting comfortable being around Arsenal and London Colney he's now finding himself away on another season-long loan, this time to Portugal's Sporting Lisbon. This will be Campbell's fifth loan since signing for the club in 2011 (previous spells include Lorient, Real Betis, Olympiacos, and Villarreal), and given the scarcity of available options up top it's hard to see a future for Joel at Arsenal ever again.

Serge Gnabry has been rumored to be going out on loan this season, but this move might put a stop to those plans. That said, even with Joel's departure, Gnabry alone might still not be enough for Arsene Wenger to be fully comfortable with his depth at forward: Including Gnabry, Wenger has Oliver Giroud, Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Alex Iwobi to select for three positions (for the sake of this conversation and my mental health I won't be including Yaya Sanogo among an actual, realistic option, no matter what Arsene says). One could throw in Chuba Akpom into the discussion, and perhaps Yaya Sanogo, but I'd especially rather not considering Iwobi is out for another month and with the way Arsenal's league campaign has started they're not in any state to be forced to field a guy that flames out on two loans away - one at League One midtable club Charlton Athletic - last season.

Therefore it's not unrealistic to think Wenger has something up his sleeve. What that entails, exactly, is completely unknown. Maybe even to him.

In any case, good luck on finally getting out while you could, Joel. It's been real.