Arsenal hero Paul Merson senses Mikel Arteta does not trust Fabio Vieira. Even though the Gunners boss was the driving force behind the midfielder’s transfer from FC Porto in 2022.
Vieira left the Estadio do Dragao for Emirates Stadium in June for an initial £30m, rising up to £34m. The 22-year-old was Arteta’s third transfer of the summer after Matt Turner and Marquinhos. He also put pen to paper on a five-year contract worth £82k-a-week to move.
Arteta urged Arsenal to secure Vieira’s transfer after he offered seven goals and 16 assists in 39 games last season. Fabrizio Romano reported at the time that the Gunners boss was convinced the Portugal U21 ace can be a key player in north London now and in the future.
Arsenal beat out interest from Liverpool and Manchester City for Vieira’s transfer, as well. Melissa Reddy told Sky Sports News (19:36 10/08/22) that the Premier League rivals were tracking the Dragoes product. Yet Vieira has only played 17 times and started nine games.
Arteta has further only started Vieira in one Premier League match from nine outings that total 243 minutes. He also only brought the playmaker into his team away to Brentford on September 18 as captain Martin Odegaard had suffered a knock to his calf during training.
Mikel Arteta has seldom backed Fabio Vieira since his arrival at Arsenal
Vieira, instead, earned six of his nine starts during the Europa League group stage. He also registered one of his two goals and one of four assists in the secondary UEFA competition. He struck a league goal at Brentford and laid on two assists in the FA Cup at Oxford United.
Adapting to the demands of English football had been an issue for Vieira over his first few months at Arsenal. He told Sky Sports in October that he was ‘doing more physical stuff’ in the gym. Arteta also said that Vieira ‘still needs to do more’ defensively, via Football Daily.
Vieira showed what he can offer offensively after he assisted Mohamed Elneny and Eddie Nketiah in the FA Cup at Oxford. But the Kassam Stadium clash only took the midfielder to 876 minutes over 17 games in all competitions for the season, an average of 51 per match.
Paul Merson now feels Mikel Arteta may not trust his summer signing
Now, Merson has suggested Arteta might not trust Vieira – despite spearheading Arsenal’s interest in his transfer from Porto. The Portugal U21 captain has only played once for two minutes through the Gunners’ three Premier League fixtures since the World Cup in Qatar.
“Arsenal have done amazingly. But they are a long way off being title contenders, in my opinion,” Merson wrote in his column for Sky Sports.
“Just look at that Newcastle game. They couldn’t bring anybody on when they needed to change it. There’s nobody on the bench bar Fabio Vieira, who Mikel Arteta paid £34m for and doesn’t seem to trust.”
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