Our Vieira from Portugal promises to be a gem of a player. A creative, attacking midfielders with goals and assists; a dribbler, who can play Saka-like on the right, cutting in with his left foot to pass or shoot. He is also described as someone who finds space between the lines, breaks the status quo, and perhaps his biggest asset is that he can do this all with his left foot.
We know that when Arsenal spend this sort of money on him (reportedly about £35m) then this 22 year old will get to play regularly. So for who is he at least competition if not their replacement for?
As always, I am interested in your views. 🙂
You will not find a bigger fan of Xhaka easily, but I think it could be Granit who will get the direct competition. Arteta seemed to be moving towards two central attacking mids with just Thomas covering behind them in the last few months. These need to deliver the bread and butter stuff, goals and assists, and this is not Granit’s forte. Left footed Vieira next to either The Ode or ESR, could be the missing link.
Still, I think that Xhaka is really important for Arteta’s on-field game management and for keeping the structure, and Partey is good but not great at this. Granit, however, cannot play as sole DM; he needs to play with somebody next to him. So there’s a dilemma, especially also because Partey is injury prone and takes a long time to get into the groove. Is Elneny the right back up for a sole DM formation? Would Tielemans have played in this role had we gone for him?
What about the left wing position? ESR and Martinelli look like the strongest candidates, but both don’t seem to really flourish there. Could Vieira have been bought for that position instead?
Furthermore, the Ode needs to add more goals and assists to his game which I expect to happen gradually, but competition is required to get more from the nr10 role asap. Is Vieira that player?
Saka needs cover too which Pepe, a very different type compared to the young Englishman, just cannot offer in Arteta’s system. Was Fabio bought mainly to do that? An injury to Saka last season would have really set us back, so……
Whilst I am writing this I have also been thinking about our very own Emile and how he will fit into Arteta-ball? Is there a position he can claim for himself going forward?!
Anyway, enough from me; what are your thoughts?
By TotalArsenal