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When I first heard this “rumour” as I thought of it at the time, I couldn’t help but think it was just another fabricated news story like the “Henry back to Arsenal” one the season after he left. However, after hearing Arsene Wenger’s words on this matter, I cant help but think Vieira may be coming. Wenger said:
“There is a football decision and then there’s the psychological impact of a player of that stature coming in. We are nowhere near to making a decision like that. But it is a possibility. We don’t rule it out and we don’t say we will do it. That’s my decision at the moment.”
He also went on to say yesterday:
“I will be looking at all the options we have during the week, and then we close. I believe we have quite a strong squad now. If we can add one or two players, we will do it, but not more.”
The second quote is quite a standard response from Wenger but the first can be looked at in further detail.
How often does Wenger actually accept there is something to a transfer story? Not often at all. There is definitely something going on and I think Wenger is just contemplating if he thinks bringing in Vieira will be enough. He has now let go of Toure, Adebayor and Senderos. Last season two out of those three would be in our starting eleven. That means on a basic mathematical level, we are weaker this year than last. However, I am not so sure about that since I haven’t had a proper chance to see Vermaelen in action and as I have said before; Eduardo is twice the striker Adebayor is.
For years Wenger has filled his side with athletes; players who could compete comfortably in a triathlon event and those who could play in a few different positions to compensate for a relatively smaller sized squad. Wenger is a statician. He measures the most intricate attributes of a player’s performance and stores it on a complex database for review. Wenger’s kaizen approach has always been about efficiency. For years, Toure was one of the most effiecient players in the league. He played almost all of the games, was hardly ever injured and gave consistant performances. His attitude was always top class and for that reason, he must have always been one of Wengers favourites. But what now?
Adebayor wasn’t efficient anymore. Toure wasn’t either since his bout of Malaria. Now Wenger has shifted his perspective to one of footballing intelligence. A striker like Adebayor is on the complete other side of the spectrum to Eduardo when it comes to footballing intelligence. Yes Adebayor is taller, stronger, faster and a decent striker in a general sense. But how often would he have been called offside from one of Arshavin, Fabregas or Rosicky’s through balls? Eduardo reads the game like a pro. So does Vieira. Mainly because, well…he is a pro.
Vieira would allow players like Denilson, Song, Ramsey, Diaby and even Nasri to learn from his wealth of experience. If Wenger can see he has enough legs in him to last this season, he will sign him. If he can sign Silvestre, he can sign Vieira.
However, the question remains if Vieira’s signing is enough? If Wenger plans on bringing in a world class central midfielder, he doesn’t need Vieira. If he wants to let Song, Denilson, Ramsey and Diaby flourish into established international footballers, then he will bring in Vieira.
Where do I stand? As much as I have been screaming for a classy ball winning midfielder for over a year to come in and solidify our team; I cant help but get excited over the prospect of hearing chants of “VIEIRAAAA OHHH OHHHH” across the Emirates. Perhaps I’m dreaming. The next two weeks will show us what Wenger has in his bag. Don’t let us down Che Wenger, we have been loyal for too long.
Reminder of why we loved Vieira so much for so long:
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