First refusal on him Hull City may have, but right now it looks less and less likely that Fraizer Campbell, the biggest single catalyst of our rise up the Championship in the second half of last season, will be coming back to the club.
Not for a while anyway.
This has been subject to speculation and innuendo which has been all over the shop. For those of you in need of memory refreshment, Campbell is a 21 year old striker of promise and pace who has come through Manchester United's ranks and was snapped up for City on a three month loan by Phil Brown in October last year. His impact was instant, with goals, speed and amazing confidence making him the scourge of Championship back fours and prompting our manager to persuade Sir Alex Ferguson into extending the loan for the whole season. He ended the campaign as our top scorer and with a play-off winners medal round his neck and a black and amber wig on his head.
Upon the end of his loan, the word seemed to be that Ferguson was going to take a long look at Campbell over the summer - he was involved heavily in the first team squad's pre-season tour of South Africa - and make a decision. Campbell then scored the only goal of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's testimonial match against Espanyol and, with Saha gone crap, Rooney forced out of position, Ronaldo in plaster and Tevez back in South America after a bereavement, kept a starting place when Newcastle United visited Old Trafford in the opening weekend of the season. He played very well too, nearly scoring with a close range header.
The word seemed to be that Campbell would come back to the KC on loan - nobody has ever expected him to return as a full-time player, even though we could probably afford him - once Ferguson had secured the signature of a top-line international centre forward, with Tottenham's Dimitar Berbatov the main target. Unfortunately, Tottenham have been unduly dogged in their reluctance to allow any sort of deal for their prized striker to go through, especially after seeing another Big Four (how I hate that phrase) club in Liverpool take Robbie Keane off their hands. The prospect of Tottenham relying on Darren Bent for goals while Keane and Berbatov strengthen two sides who are already considerably better than them is not exactly a jolly one for their supporters.
That said, hope remains. Berbatov was on the bench as Spurs capitulated at Middlesbrough last weekend, an odd decision for Juande Ramos to take considering the evident lack of high-class cover available to him with Keane gone and Bent not. Such a selection, or lack of, by the Tottenham coach surely gives hope for Ferguson, who isn't exactly prone to giving up on pressurising lower order sides for their best players, that a deal can be done before the deadline on September 1st, and Berbatov's sulky disposition on the bench (and largely toothless contribution to the match once he was off it) coupled with his publicly pronounced "dream" of a move to Old Trafford, could only enhance it further.
Only once Ramos takes his finger out of his backside and either picks Berbatov or sells him, can Ferguson make a decision on Campbell. If Ramos picks Berbatov, Campbell stays put. If he flogs him, Campbell comes back to the KC. It does seem to be that simple, that cut and dried. Campbell himself is already immortalised by the achievements he helped attain for Hull City, and utterly idolised by the supporters who have never seen such youthful talent pulling on a shirt in their name before - witness the mega reaction he got from the crowd when Campbell came on as a substitute for the England Under 21s at the KC earlier this week.
And, on top of all this, Campbell absolutely loved playing for Hull City and he strikes me as the type of lad who would quite like to be an all-time hero of a club. He became a superstar and a Wembley winner - something which he is less likely to achieve at Old Trafford unless he responds to the lack of Berbatov immediately and starts scoring hatfuls of goals. How many goals you can get into a hat, I've never been wholly sure...
The salient point seems to have eluded most City fans, including me, during this speculative period since Wembley. We all wanted Campbell back, on loan or permanently, and even the Tigers chairman and manager made positive comments about it. However, we've always been under the assumption that Campbell would somehow be not good enough for Manchester United, something we could never know for sure without seeing him play in their first team. Therefore it was clear that Ferguson was going to try him out, even though maybe it was a little sooner than we first presupposed. Now he has tried him out and Campbell did well (if not exceptionally so), he will do so again. And if Campbell does turn out to be good enough after a few games, at least for further involvement in the Manchester United first team picture, Ferguson isn't going to let him loose for the benefit of another Premier League club when he can do so at his own.
The worst case scenario for us could easily happen - Campbell could turn out to be good enough and Berbatov is still purchased in order to partner him. Then it's back to the drawing board, possibly scanning Arsenal or Chelsea's youth team for their version of Campbell - however, that will always be more of a risk when you are recruiting for the Premier League. Part of Campbell's successes came because, frankly, he was playing in a lesser division against lesser teams with slower, dumber defenders - Campbell Mk II won't have that luxury or freedom. Until we play Stoke, at least.
Meanwhile, it's Marlon King or Caleb Folan or Campbell's mentor, the iconic Dean Windass, who will get to play ahead of Geovanni up front for the Tigers when we go to Blackburn tomorrow. This could be the case for quite some time - even as far ahead as the January window, by which time of course, Campbell may have become established at Manchester United - with or without Berbatov - and the chances of him coming back to us reduced to nil.
All of those players have their strengths, but I'd still have Campbell ahead of any of them. I suspect Phil Brown, looking at the devil-crested hotline on his office phone, would feel the same.
For now, however, Campbell has a red shirt on his back. It's up to him, then up to Ferguson, how long it stays there and whether it will again, this season or ever, change to black and amber stripes.
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