It was arguably the most controversial transfer in Premier League history, but what exactly happened when Sol Campbell swapped Tottenham for Arsenal?
We spoke to the man at the centre of the storm, as well as Arsene Wenger, about a deal that was shrouded in secrecy... and involved clandestine meetings in the dead of night.
SOL CAMPBELL: It was about two or three months before [when Inter Milan were interested]. A few other clubs were too - Barcelona came in and I think Bayern came in six or seven months before
ARSENE WENGER: We walked together at one o’clock in the morning to talk about [signing]… because he was paranoid it would be discovered. This is a transfer we made with David Dein, at his house, and sometimes we had meetings at 11pm so we could make sure no one could see us. It is an unbelievable story.
SOL CAMPBELL: We would meet at night time and it helped because he doesn’t live in a built-up place. It’s not like an inner-city London place where David Dein lived, so it was quite easy to meet.
ARSENE WENGER: I was sceptical until the end because I realised when you play in London, at Arsenal, how much you will have to face if you change club. Sol suffered from that later because he faced real tough people who were after him and over the period it had a weight on him and it was a problem for him to deal with that. He paid a heavy price for that move but I think as well he wanted to win trophies and that is why he made that decision.
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