Arsenal midfielder Fabio Vieira has been praised by pundit Alan Smith having picked up his form of late.
The Gunners secured the signing of Vieira over the summer as they forked out £35million to sign him from Porto.
Vieira racked up 14 assists for Porto last season and Arsenal saw enough to suggest that he could become a Premier League star.
The problem for Vieira is that he is having to be patient in the Arsenal squad.
Martin Odegaard and Granit Xhaka are Arsenal’s first-choice midfield pairing ahead of Thomas Partey.
Breaking beyond them and into the Arsenal team is very tough and Vieira is having to make do with a squad role right now.
Alan Smith hails Arsenal midfielder Fabio Vieira
The potential is clear with Vieira.
The 22-year-old has chipped in with two goals and four assists in 27 games, though only 12 of those came as a starter.
Vieira has shown real promise in North London and he seems to have impressed former Gunners striker Alan Smith of late.
Smith told Sky Sports (13/03, 3:50pm) during Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Fulham that he thinks Vieira is now really ‘coming into his own’ as a Gunners player.
Smith admitted that he felt Vieira was impressive against Sporting on Thursday night and seemingly liked his cameo against Fulham too.
“He’s coming into his own, Vieira,” said Smith. “He had a good game on Thursday in Europe,” he added.
Vieira picked up an assist against Sporting, whipping in a superb corner for William Saliba to head Arsenal into a 1-0 lead.
Arsenal can expect to see more assists from Vieira in the coming years, with a few goals surely to come as well.
Who knows if Vieira can ever become a first-choice player for Arsenal, but he has certainly displayed that he can make a difference when called upon.
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