Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta has made some stellar signings since he took over as Gunners boss four years ago. But there have been some odd flops.
Willian’s contract was terminated after just one season. And the decision to make Pablo Mari and Cedric Soares’ loan agreements permanent continues to cause controversy among Emirates supporters. Fabio Vieira, though, is somewhere in the middle of the pack.
In the summer of 2022, Arsenal paid £34 million to sign the talented Portugal under-21 player from Porto. Raising expectations that he would bring something fresh to the team.
Many believed Vieira had room to exert an impact in the team. This is because he was a different kind of playmaker than club captain Martin Odegaard.
Sadly, less than 18 months after his arrival, the jury is still out on Vieira. He has shown flashes of brilliance, but he has missed a great deal of games without contributing significantly.
One could argue that he hasn’t had enough opportunities to gather the necessary momentum.
In his brief tenure at Arsenal, Vieira experienced one concerning moment in January of last year when the Gunners hosted a tenacious Newcastle team at the Emirates.
Oleksandr Zinchenko, Martin Odegaard, and Thomas Partey, among others, were finding it difficult to penetrate the Magpies defense. So Arteta’s team needed to generate more opportunities.
However, for the second straight game, attacking midfielder Vieira was on the bench as an unused substitute.
What Did Neville Said About Vieira’s Quality In Arteta’s Team?
Gary Neville addressed the situation while on commentary, telling Sky Sports as reported by The Mirror: “Arteta, he looks at £34million Vieira on his bench and doesn’t bring him on. So he doesn’t have faith that he’s going to improve the team that was out there.
“Fabio Vieira cost £34million. Mikel obviously thought he would’ve weakened the side by bringing him on.
“They do rely on the perfect pass and the thread, they haven’t got full-backs that deliver really good crosses, they haven’t got a midfield player that switches play or plays De Bruyne-style crosses.”
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For Vieira, things haven’t really gotten any better after a year. This season, he has only managed eight league appearances, and in none of them has he played for the full 90 minutes.
In the 3-1 victory over Burnley in mid-November, he made his last appearance for the team and was shown the red card.
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