Gary Neville told Mikel Arteta he 'no longer trusts' forgotten Arsenal star

25 January 2024 , 10:38

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Gary Neville accused Mikel Arteta of losing faith in Fabio Vieira last season (Image: Catherine Ivill)

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has made a number of successful signings since he took the reins as Gunners manager four years ago, but there has been the odd flop.

Willian lasted just one season before having his contract terminated, while the decision to turn the loan deals of both Cedric Soares and Pablo Mari into permanent moves still raise eyebrows among the Emirates faithful to this day. However, Fabio Vieira falls somewhere in the middle.

The Portugal under-21 talent was signed from Porto for a fee of £34million in the summer of 2022 and hopes were high he would offer Arsenal something new. A different style of playmaker to club captain Martin Odegaard, many felt there was room for Vieira to wave his influence in this team.

Unfortunately, just shy of 18 months after his arrival, the jury remains out on Vieira, who has had fleeting moments of brilliance but plenty more games pass him by without making a meaningful contribution. There is an argument to be made that he hasn't had the chances to build the required momentum.

One alarming moment for Vieira in his short Arsenal career came last January, when the Gunners welcomed a resilient Newcastle to the Emirates. The likes of Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey or Oleksandr Zinchenko were struggling to unpick the Newcastle defence and Arteta's men needed to create more chances.

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And yet, Vieira, an attacking midfielder, was kept on the bench as an unused substitute for the second successive game. At a time when forging a chance with a precision pass was the order of the day, it didn't bode well for the former Porto star, who watched on as the game fizzled out into a 0-0 draw.

Gary Neville addressed the situation while on commentary, telling Sky Sports: "Arteta, he looks at £34million Vieira on his bench and doesn’t bring him on, so he doesn’t have faith that he’s going to improve the team that was out there.

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Vieira has struggled to force his way into Mikel Arteta's plans

"Fabio Vieira cost £34million. Mikel obviously thought he would’ve weakened the side by bringing him on. They do rely on the perfect pass and the thread, they haven’t got full-backs that deliver really good crosses, they haven’t got a midfield player that switches play or plays De Bruyne-style crosses."

Twelve months on, things have hardly improved for Vieira. He's managed just eight league appearances so far this term and failed to complete 90 minutes in any of them. His last appearance for the club came in mid-November, where he received a red card during the 3-1 win over Burnley.

Since then, Vieira has been forced to undergo surgery to rectify a groin issue. It is yet another setback he'll have to overcome, but it doesn't look like the midfield talent will be winning the trust of his manager any time soon.

Josh O'Brien