According to Portuguese publication A Bola, Porto are interested in a reunion with Fabio Vieira although Arsenal would have to contribute to the player’s wages for a move to happen.
In a move that took everyone by surprise, Vieira switched the Estádio do Dragão for the Emirates two years ago in a deal worth up to €40 million. However, he’s yet to achieve lift-off in London and is said to be increasingly frustrated at his lack of game time.
Vieira played just over 1,400 minutes across 33 appearances in his debut season for the Gunners but was limited to 560 minutes and 17 appearances in the 23/24 campaign.
Greater competition for places and less rotation by Mikel Arteta undoubtedly played a part in his downturn in game time while a straight red card and an untimely groin injury that required surgery were also factors.
The 24-year-old definitely needs to play and you suspect Arsenal would be open to a loan deal if the right offer was made and other players were sold.
A Bola says Porto view Vieira as a replacement for Francisco Conceição who they expect to sell this summer after he impressed suitors with his performances in the Champions League.
On paper a return to his boyhood club and a chance to rebuild his confidence in familiar surroundings will undoubtedly appeal to Vieira. It could also work for Arsenal who are at risk of making a big loss on the player if they can’t make good use of him.
Elsewhere, a report in Belgium’s HLN claims Mika Biereth is high on the shopping list of national champions Club Brugge.
Like Sturm Graz, who had the player on loan and have already expressed an interest in signing the Danish striker, they can also offer Champions League football. Sheffield Wednesday have also been sniffing around.
Big summer to get the team moving forward. Would love to keep Vieira and ESR but not sure we can.
Lots to do, both ins and outs. Good luck Edu and the rest.
I feel like a loan two years into a five year contract is a really bad sign for the future of that player. Teams move past players really quickly. ESR, T5, Zinnny and GJ all sustained injuries and by the time they returned, they’d basically been replaced and a system created which doesn’t need them. Even if Fabio has a really good loan spell, I just can’t see how he’s going to come back into a squad that will have likely found alternatives to him. I find it hard to think of one example where a player has been signed… Read more »
saliba
Good shout, although he didn’t get a whiff of first team football for 3 years (was it really that long?!)
I was thinking more about players who came in and struggled to break into the first XI so went back out on loan.
Ceballos, based on the number of CL he won when he returned!
Emiliano Martinez
Given the 40mil jackpot they made on him from us it would be Fabio-lous they could at least take over all of his wages, but I guess we can’t expect them to make us any conceiçãos
He sure did costa lot. Unless they can figo out how to finance it we’ll just have to find another baia meireleswhere
Everton will be in desperate need of a creative midfielder and will have no real money to spend, and Vieira really needs premier league experience, so a loan there makes a lot of sense (if he plans to work his way back into the arsenal side, or if we plan to sell he needs the exposure to keep value high).
Wolves also might be a good place for Fabio, as they have a lot of Portuguese players and he might find the environment comfortable.
Actually nevermind, as it looks like mbs and the Saudis are in for another club… should just bid for the league already like they did with golf, boxing, wrestling, f1, etc
You must really hate Vieira to want to put him under the arm of Sean Dyche.
He needs to learn positional discipline, to play within a structure, and some physical strength, all of which dyche will provide. It’s sink or swim time for fabio.
All of those things would help a little, but what would really open up his game is a better ability to use his first touch and body position when he receives the ball. If he can avoid physical contact with defenders in those situations reliably, he would become absolutley top. As it is, when he tries to receive there is always a guy on his back. They know he will cough it up under pressure. That’s why he hasn’t clicked.
When has he gotten enough playing time in our team to click?
It’s not a matter of playing time; this won’t just work itself out. The issues are probably evident in training.
“Vieira played just over 1,400 minutes across 33 appearances in his debut season for the Gunners”
From the article
Vieira looks like that rarest of things, an Artedu flop, and an expensive one at that.
The talent is there, the application is what leaves something to be desired
Had high hope for him. I thought hed bulk up and smash it.
He was on the bench for more of his last season at Porto than he was a starter. For Portugese clubs, getting young players into the side regularly is a lot easier than it is in England, it’s basically their business model. 40m for a 22 year old who wasn’t yet a nailed on starter at Porto seemed like a massive gamble, which hasn’t paid off.
https://www.transfermarkt.us/fabio-vieira/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/537598/saison/2021/wettbewerb/PO1/verein/720
He played quite a bit had to have earned all of those minutes under Conceicao. 20 goal contributions in his first top flight season… that’s rarified air in any competition for any player.
Quite a bit, but like I said, not a nailed on starter.
He’s not been a flop, he just hasn’t caught fire and there’s loads of competition. With Saka and Odegaard incredible athletes who are hardly ever out his game time is gonna be low.
I doubt we paid the £40 odd mil to them in one hit, so cancel the future payments, take all his wages and the player takes a pay cut to get the move.
See I just solved transfers…..completed it , mate.
If you pay for something in installments, reselling does not cancel your future payments. Not solved mate!
I’d guess we have already paid more than half of the 40 mil price tag, let’s say 25. Instead of giving us 15 mil, take it off the 15 mil we owe you, and pay his wages
But the FA would like to know if took Woking from the conference to the Champions league in 6 seasons?
Viera create the most goal scoring chances last season.
Although goal scoring chances are not counted as assist, because the striker missed the goal target, it is not the fault of Viera that the striker should have scored after he set the opportunity up for him.
So it could easily have turn those chances into assists, if the striker was more clinical instead of wasteful. So I would give Vira another season because he could easily have been our most creative player considering the big chances created according to Sofascore.
Is that stat per 90 or something?
Assuming it is, it’s pretty skewed- from memory he predominantly came on when we were a few goals up in that mad run of ours through March, and the opposition had essentially given up. So it’s no wonder he created lots of chances..
I think his race has run. He’s 24, so not particularly young, and if we’re being honest really hasn’t shown that much.
He barely got off the bench on the second half of the season. He played a lot of minutes in the first 12 games and assisted vs Fulham and Man United. If you remember that Fulham game, we were down 0-1 and he came on, won a penalty and then put one on a plate for Eddie. So it’s not like we’ve never seen it from him at Arsenal.
You were correct earlier, if he can’t demonstrate his ability in training, he isn’t getting off the bench. Loan him, save some wage money and rebuild his reputation in another league where we can sell him. If the standard to win the title is not to lose any games, Arteta won’t play him. As I recall his was a weird transfer in that we were approached by the agent with this “opportunity” out of nowhere.
This is a player with a rare technical/creative profile. His ability to strike the ball with quality on either foot with bend/whip and accuracy is so so valuable. He has deserved more minutes than he’s had and has been unlucky in a few ways: We signed Trossard 6 months after he came, a very different profile to Mudryk. Leo happens to have a lot of the two footed ball striking traits but has had 6 more years of top flight experience. It didn’t help Fabio’s case that Trossard’s form was so good for much of 2024. Fabio has also suffered… Read more »
Agree with everything you said, but would just add one thing on the vision part. He seems to have elite technique and vision when asked to pick out a pass in a fast break situation where there are 2-3 defenders and 1-2 of his own teammates on the break, his accuracy and weighting in those situations is as good as it gets. But for some reason that doesn’t seem to translate into normal play in midfield, and I think it’s because the number of players involved is much greater and he either doesn’t *yet* or will never have the kind… Read more »
That’s really insightful, well found.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBuxImZ1SJc
Look at the power he generates with minimal backlift. Look at the casual way he threads or flicks perfect passes. Look a the shape of the strike when it flies off his foot. He might be the best pure ball striker at Arsenal. This guy is a gold mine of goals if we can unlock him, but where would he play in Arsenal’s best XI?
Creatively, a backup for Odegaard perhaps, but he can’t press the same way and hasn’t got the positional awareness, physicality or determination.
I don’t disagree, although it’s a little harsh on him because of the gap in experience. Odegaard started at the very top level almost 9 years ago, whereas Fabio was still playing Porto B in 20/21. It should be remembered it took Odegaard a long time to figure it out. His career looked like stalling at a big club, loan after loan, not being picked to play in the Madrid team much… He’s actually a great example to Vieira in that way because he perservered, found the right situation and now he’s flying at the very top. It might be… Read more »
At Porto I believe he played as a second striker. I don’t see us playing that system. He has undeniable talent but does his talent fit Arteta’s system.
Have Santi be his personal tutor…
A thought that has been running through my mind for a few months: Arsenal crashing out of the domestic cups early the past two seasons (a combination of bad draws and poor play) has had a borderline disastrous effect on squad depth and the development, stature, and value of players like Vieira, ESR, Nelson, etc. Arsenal always seem to draw a PL side in an early round while they’re simultaneously experiencing a dip in form. Is it too much to ask to play Accrington Stanley in the 3rd round of the FA Cup?! I really don’t care about those trophies,… Read more »
Agree, we need better runs in those comps to build the squad. Excellent point. But Arteta also needs to rotate the squad and they need to win.
So much potential but his positions are filled with exceptionally talented and robust players currently. If there are more cup games he could get more minutes. I’d be glad to see him get regular football on loan. There’s nothing like a regular 90 mins to develop any player at any level.