Morning all.
Well well, whilst Marquinhos, Gabriel Jesus and Youri Tielemans have been hitting the Arsenal headlines, it seems Edu and his team have dipped into the Portuguese League and come out with Fabio Vieira. Am I going to pretend I know all about him? Absolutely. Not! But, I can hear Paddy’s old song being sung already albeit with Portugal replacing Senegal.
Both Fabrizio Romano and David Ornstein are saying the deal between Arsenal and Porto has been agreed and the player travelled to London yesterday afternoon/evening to undergo a medical. It’s a shame his fellow countryman João Palhinha is joining him but it seems Wolves or Fulham are trying to snap him up.
Vieira is 22 years old, 5’ 9” tall and plays in midfield or as a second striker who last summer was linked to Liverpool. From the YouTube clips I watched of him, it’s clear to see he’s a talented young player. An exciting prospect who looks pretty good with the ball at his feet. A bit of Santi Cazorla and Bobby Pires rolled into one perhaps. ok, I’m being positive this morning.
Six goals in 15 starts for Porto last season, 13 goals in 21 games for Portugal U21s – not too shabby eh.
Having read around the internet, the response to this potential signing is mixed which I totally understand, after all, not every Arsenal fan thinks the same. Arsenal lacked spark, quality and trickery in and around the box last season yet Vieira seems to have all of that in his locker. If he brings that into the Premier League for us, I won’t be complaining. I also read a few comments which suggested the end my be close for ESR if Vieira arrives but I don’t see that at all. I just see more options for Mikel Arteta and in all four competitions. With five substitutes available this coming season, strength and depth on the bench should make a big difference.
Another big difference to the team would be adding a bit of height and physicality to our midfield and strike force. That’s what puts me off of Gabriel Jesus, if he really is a target for Arsenal this summer as neither he, nor Youri Tielemans for that matter, are particularly tall. Does that matter though?
Arsenal are being linked with strikers, many of them too. Victor Osimhen is one of them and Christopher Nkunku is another. Either would set Arsenal back more than what the club paid for Nicolas Pepe and certainly more than Gabriel Jesus if internet valuations are anything to go by. Do I care? Absolutely not because that’s football these days. If a club wants a specific player, they either pay the price or move on to plan b.
Anyway, it looks like player number two of this transfer window could be through the door very soon. Exciting eh…
See you in the comments.
Good morning, Rico and all.
I’m afraid I have to join to those who worry about ESR’s place and gaming time.
It might be true that a new AM would more options for Mikel Arteta and in all four competitions, but it will directly result to those players sharing the minutes. And as long as ESR won’t be converted into a full LW or Vieira to a box-to-box midfielder, they will cannibalize each other’s minutes leaving absolutely none to the academy players (Flores, Hutchinson) whatsoever.
The good about Vieira:
– great skill profile with many strengths and no weaknesses (according to https://www.whoscored.com/Players/394924/Show/F%C3%A1bio-Vieira)
– plenty of goals and assists
– affordable price
– leadership skills (captain of the Portugal U21 selection)
– a catchy name in the Emirates
The bad:
– he didn’t play much, especially among adults (Nketiah and Sambi played cca 50% more, ESR 75% more, all about the same age, Saka played 120% more and he is 2 year younger)
– we need another attacking midfielder like Tasmanian devil needs the bushfire; as we have Ode and ESR with Flores and Hutchinson in the making
– currently injured (return unknown)
Fábio could be the challenger or maybe even the successor of Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva at the AM of the Portuguese national team, unless he makes a wrong decision and ends up with a team that throttles his development – kind of what is happening to Lokonga.
Good morning Rico, according to wiki, Vieira is five foot seven, but what’s two inches between friends? 😉
Morning Pbarany, Cicero, all.
Yes, I saw that about his height on Wikki but also saw he’s 5’ 9” so I opted for the latter.
We have 4 competitions to play though Pbarany, Vieira would give Saka, ESR and Odegaard more rest/rotation time. There’s nothing negative about Vieira possibly signing imo, other than as Jm said last night, he’s slight in build.
I’m off out so expect him to be announced within the next hour or two. Lol
too frail for football? yeah , same was said of a host of players , one springing to mind being Modric 😉
Well a signing out of thin air…like the good old days.
Have absolutely no idea what this lad is like, but I like early signings. Get the new players bedded in well before the start of the season.
Afternoon Rico and all
I mentioned a while ago that my gut feeling was that Arteta didn’t have full confidents in ESR and that’s why he kept playing him off the bench when he could. Now looking at Viera mark 2 I’m now wondering if he is ESR replacement. I hope not as I like watching ESR and feel he has a bright future for us
Based on my calculations Vieira is slightly below 5′ 6” – both TransferMarkt and WhoScored show him as 170 cm. But I don’t think that could or should be an issue, as Messi was identically 1.70, and other players of similar stature made excellent careers like Ribery, Sterling, Coutinho and Iniesta. Hell, Maradona and Xavi were even smaller. 🙂
And I agree that Vieira fits the age profile, but I challenge that he fits the position profile. On paper 4 competition seems like a lot, but let’s not forget we played a single game in the FA Cup last season. Even if we agree on an 52-54 competitive games next campaign (38 PL, 8-10 EL, 4-5 League Cup and 3-4 FA Cup) that indeed could give sufficient minutes to the second choice player, but the third one will get only crumbles. However I will not start to mourn our transfer window already as it is possible to play ESR in the same team as another AM (on the left wing), and against lesser opponents we can play 4-1-4-1 instead of the default 4-2-3-1, so even 2 central attacking midfielders could fit in – obviously on the expense of the backup CM/DMs like Lokonga, Elneny and Azeez.
I saw that Fabio Vieira was 5’ 6” – you know similar to David Silva or Juan Mata or Eden Hazard or Bernado Silva or Santiago Cazorla….
Hey Rico, stay out until Monday then we’ll get Tielemans and Jesus as well… 😉
Perhaps he’s still growing. 😉
Hi Geoff, Kev, all. I would Kev but it’s a bit warm out there.
AFCam, you watch him become a target though as soon as his left a few defenders on their backside.
Eddie has signed a five year contract apparently.
Hopefully, Rico, that means if he leaves it won’t be for nothing. We still need a striker though.
It’s good to hear Eddie has possible signed an extension but like others have said we still need a dedicated striker
Absolutely Cicero. It’s the kind of thing we should have been doing years ago.
New post up now