Fabio Vieira was signed out of the blue by Arsenal for a fee of €35 million and many Gooner having no clue who he actually was, we had to resort to clips on YouTube and I was impressed. He didn’t score a hatful of goals for FC Porto or anything of that sort, but boy, his passing range looked sumptuous. In the season before he was signed by Arsenal, Vieira had scored six goals and supplied 14 assists in 15 starts (27 games in total) and I was looking forward to seeing him don the famous Red and White.
He made his debut in that unfortunate 3-1 loss to Manchester United (where Gabriel Martinelli’s goal was wrongly ruled out for a foul in the buildup to the play), and his first start for the club came in the Europa League win over FC Zurich, that will be forever remembered at the Marquinhos Show. When he scored his first goal in the 3-0 win over Brentford, the signs were there that Arsenal had a player in their hands. But Vieira never nailed a place in the starting XI in the Premier League, thanks to the fitness and consistency of Martin Odegaard, Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey, so he had to make do with a lot of Europa League minutes, till Arsenal’s eventual elimination via penalties against Sporting CP.
However, he started only three Premier League games in his debut season, coming off the bench 19 times. Vieira would have hoped that Xhaka’s departure to Bayer Leverkusen would have paved the way for an extended run out in the side but in came Kai Havertz, and it was more of the same, as games were very hard to come by for the diminutive Portuguese maestro.
In two full seasons at Arsenal, Vieira started five from a possible 76 Premier League games, and it was evident that he’d never nail down a starting berth, but I expected him to be a squad option this season, especially as he came on for Bukayo Saka on the right in preseason games and scored a well-taken goal too.
That’s why I was somewhat bemused when it was announced that Vieira was returning to FC Porto this season on loan. There are no purchase options or obligations on the loan deal, so Arsenal still harbors plans of using him for the foreseeable future. You know, like what we did with William Saliba a couple of seasons ago. When you also recall that Thomas Partey and Jorginho are in the Septembers of their career and might probably not get their contracts extended at the end of this season, there may still be hope for him next season.
On the short term, Arsenal feels a whole lot lighter, as there have been several departures but something can still happen between now and the end of the transfer window.
Sayonara.
