By Myles Palmer
Patrick Vieira was gutted after Valencia and Cardiff.
He thought Arsenal should have beaten Valencia and beaten Liverpool.
He accepted losing the league, but he thought Arsenal should
have won the FA Cup and the European Champions Cup.
So he now finds himself in a uniquely frustrating situation. What other player has ever been a World Cup winner and a European Championship winner but won nothing with his club for three years?
He is bound to be fed up.
Story is that a crunch meeting is coming up in London next
Wednesday.
Vieira will want three assurances
1. An assurance that Arsene Wenger is staying. He has the
utmost repsect for Wenger, who has huge respect for him.
2. An assurance that big names will strengthen the squad. I think Sol Campbell, Francis Jeffers and Van Bronkhorst are done deals, so those three may satisfy him. Clearly, Arsenal need Dudek and may soon regret not signing the Polish keeper before now.
3. He will also want wage parity with Sol Campbell or any
other new player.Maybe he already has a parity clause in his
contract.
Vieira, as we all know, is half the Arsenal team. If he leaves, there is no team. If he wants Pires to play in central midfield with him, Wenger should re-arrange the team around that concept.
The good news is twofold.
One, Vieira would never go to Italy, or to Man United, only to Spain.
But neither Real Madrid nor Barcelona have made serious
noises about wanting him. Real would rather have Zidane, a
player they do not need, than Vieira, the world’s best midfielder.
Secondly, David Dein and Arsene Wenger know how important
Vieira is.
They have a good relationship with him. Vieira also has an
English girlfriend, a serious long-term relationship.
8th June 2001.