Football

Viera backed by Wenger to be future Arsenal boss

Published

7 years ago

April 24, 2019

Editor 1

Arsene Wenger believes Patrick Vieira is destined to return to Arsenal in a managerial capacity at some point in the future.

The former Gunners midfielder is currently taking in the second challenge of a promising coaching career.

Having taken on a youth-team role at Manchester City upon hanging up his boots, Vieira took a first senior post in MLS with New York City.

He then returned to his native France in the summer of 2018 at Nice.

Vieira has impressed during his debut campaign in Ligue 1 and is being backed to replicate his playing success as a boss.

He has been billed as a potential successor to Didier Deschamps with the World Cup-winning France national side once a former team-mate walks away from Les Bleus.

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Wenger, though, feels that club football will hold more appeal, with an iconic former Arsenal manager seeing a man he moulded into one of the best in the world back in north London when another change is made at Emirates Stadium.

“I see him as the Arsenal coach one day because I think he is too young to go directly into international football,” a man who enjoyed Premier League and FA Cup successes with Vieira at the heart of his Gunners side told Canal Football Club.

“I think his life will go through club football. He has constructed his career intelligently and patiently.

“He left when he was young, he went to New York, he is now in Nice and he has taken time to mature and learn his profession.

“And something you can’t give: he has a natural charisma, he is both elegant and authoritative.

“He has passed through a difficult time at Nice but he showed no signs of weakness.

“It is in times of crisis you see the coach.”

Vieira has Nice pushing for a top-half finish in Ligue 1, with his efforts having seen him overshadow those of ex-Arsenal colleague Thierry Henry who lasted a matter of months in a post at struggling Monaco after opting to open his managerial career in France.