Fabio Vieira celebrating a goal

Fabio Vieira has dominated the headlines for all the right reasons, with his parent club, FC Porto, and Arsenal agreeing to a €35m deal which would allow the diminutive midfield maestro move to North London. The Gunners have already confirmed a deal for young Brazilian winger, Marquinhos, and are heavily linked with moves for Gabriel Jesus and Youri Tielemans, but I must say, signing Fabio Vieira out of the blue is a pleasant surprise. 

Sometimes, a little bit of decisiveness in the transfer market helps, like when the Gunners activated Thomas Partey’s release clause on deadline day last season. In Fabio Vieira, the Gunners have a player that can deputize for Martin Odegaard when required, or even play alongside the Norwegian lynchpin. Fabio Vieira is also adept on the right flank, cutting in as an inverted winger, should Arteta decide to give a breather to our talisman, Bukayo Saka. 

I took the liberty of juxtaposing between Fabio Vieira and Martin Odegaard via Squawka, and saw some really interesting stats.

Fabio Vieira played less amount of games than Odegaard (only 15 starts amazingly), but his passing stats are exemplary. The midfielder has a penchant for laying killer passes in behind the defense lines and that would be very helpful with runners like Gabriel Martinelli, Saka and hopefully, Gabriel Jesus on the prowl to finish. 

The midfielder is likened to his countryman, Bernardo Silva, in terms of stature and also ability. He’s currently the captain of the Portugal Under-21s, smashing in 13 goals in just 20 appearances for his nation. His numbers last season were equally impressive, notching up seven goals and 16 assists in just 15 starts, averaging a goal contribution every 87 minutes. 

His Under-21’s gaffer, Rui Jorge, believes that Arsenal is getting an exciting as he waxed lyrical about his talented midfielder,

“He is a very technically advanced player, he is good at defining, but he needs to improve some aspects of his game in order to become a full-fledged player. He knows this and will work on these aspects. Fabio has a great future if he sees fit. I think he wants to be the player he can be. I believe that we can meet a great player.”

His presence also adds some friendly competition with Odegaard, who had his fair share of inconsistent outings in his first full campaign with the club. Arsenal has made some really good moves to shore up the team in terms of quantity and quality, and long may it continue.

Sayonara.

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