Campbell’s solicitor, Bon Battu, released a brief statement yesterday claiming that there were no problems in his private life and that he would be back in training next week
"Sol is absolutely fine. I’ve been in continuous contact with him since Wednesday evening — he needed time and space to gather his thoughts — he has no personal problems whatsoever and will be back in training next week. He thanks his family and friends.
"He just felt that he needed to take time out and take stock of the situation.
"He's done that now and is ready to come back.
"And despite all the crazy rumours circulating about him he's actually fine and in good spirits."
Wenger:
"I cannot tell you more than you know already.
"I haven't seen him since Wednesday and I have no news from him. I have not spoken to him and no one from the club has been in contact with him." Asked if he felt his most experienced centre-half faced a serious problem, Wenger said: "It depends what the problem is." Was it football-related? "I don't know. I don't know what the problem is."
Here an interview with The Observer just before his doing one:
What has life taught you?
'Life has taught me that there are some really nice people, but some really horrible people.'
How do you handle the not very nice?
'You just deal with them. Sometimes you've got to work with them, or just walk by them. That's the best way.'
Your brother John was jailed for assaulting a man [in 2005] who taunted him that you are gay?
'Yeah. I think a lot of footballers have had their families in court. You've just got to deal with it. It's difficult, you don't like it, but you've just got to deal with it.'
Can football teach you anything about life?
'Can football teach anything about life? [Pause] Yeah, well I think life, my life prepared me for football really. Inadvertently. You've got to be strong, you've got to be strong, you've got to be strong out there. Some people, some games are difficult. Some are easy, like life. Some days you wake up everything goes smoothly, other days you've got to work for it'
Do people have a right to know about your private life?
'No. If you want to show who you really are [in public] that's perfectly OK. But time will tell who people are over the years.'
And the argument from the fan in the street who could say 'Sol Campbell's on so many thousands a week and part of his success is due to media exposure'?
'Really? I think not. I think it's from performances from the pitch.
something to the team — that is the best challenge for me."