The Exploits of the great Arsenal teams that terrorized England in the late 90s and the early 2000s is pretty well document at this point. Heck, even I’ve written an article on them before.
At the time, this team was the perfect combination of raw physicality and sublime technique. It didn’t really matter whether they were in possession of the ball or not, these guys simply wouldn’t give their opposition a break.
And while many may point towards the likes of Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp as the poster boys of this incredible team, perhaps no other play embodied just what this team was all about better than Patrick Vieira.
The guy was, for lack of a better term, a physical and technical behemoth. Capable of slicing down any attacker, skipping past defenders and sliding in a deadly, yet delicate ball to his attacking teammates, all in one movement.
And I haven’t even mentioned that the guy was 6ft4.
At the peak of his powers, he was included in the PFA team of the year six times in a row, won the Premier League player of the season award and captained Arsenal to invincibility.
But then again, that happened quite some time ago. Plus, these are all of these are just words, right? They mean very little without any substance or context.
Bearing that in mind, how good was Patrick Vieira, really?
Table of Contents
Early life
Born in Senegal in 1976, Patrick Vieira began his footballing journey in the streets of Dakar where him and his friends would craft makeshift balls out of clothes, plastic bags, really anything that was available.
His family, like several others, were struggling to find opportunities that would allow them to prosper in their homeland. And as a result of this, they went searching for a better life. This search led them to the to wn of Dreux, a commune located in Northern France.
Despite his Senagelese roots, the transition to French nationality didn’t prove to be a problem, due to the fact that his grandfather served in the French army. This made him eligible for French citizenship as a birth right.
Vieira was only 8 years of age at the time that his family relocated.
It was here that he really began to laser focus on developing himself as a footballer.
This is Vieira at 14 years of age. As you can see, the guy was already a bit of a beast. Although he may look as though he’s more on the lanky side, trust me. The guy was so much more than that.
Even at this age, he was physically dominant, aggressive, had a sublime touch and very good pace for his size. That last one was obviously helped by his long leggy strides.
AS Cannes and AC Milan
With this in mind it’s no wonder that he was picked up by AS Cannes, where he made his professional debut at just 17 years of age in 1994.
Despite that fact that this team is currently in the 5th division of French football, this wasn’t always the case. Particularly with regards to the time that Vieira spent with them. At the time that he played for them, they were respectably in the upper half of the France’s division 1 table.
In fact, at just 19 years of age, our man was awarded the captaincy of the team. When you truly begin to understand what Vieira was all about, this comes as no surprise.
The ability to lead was and has always been deeply embedded in his very nature. In an interview with Arsenal in 2016, when speaking on his captaincy at Cannes, he once said,
“The manager saw me as a leader not because of the way I talked, but the way I behaved on the pitch. I always had that inside me, even when I was young. I’ve got this desire inside of me, this determination.”
Now, going forward, I want us all to pay close attention to that last word. Determination. In essence, this word encapsulates Vieira’s demeanour and motivation better than most.
As you can imagine, a talent like this was never going to be kept away from the top teams in Europe for long. Therefore, when presented with the opportunity to move over to AC Milan in 1995, the decision to move to Italy was essentially a no-brainer.
For Vieira, joining AC Milan was a pretty big deal for two reasons, in particular. First of all, it’s AC Milan in the 90s. I’m not sure I need to say much more than that.
And if I do, then all you really need to know is that the Milan side that he joined had not only won Serie A three times in a row between 1991 and 1994 , but also made it to the champions league final 3 times in a row between 1992 and 1995, having won it in 1994. Yeah, no pressure, Pat.
Embed from Getty ImagesAnd secondly, he got to learn from the likes of fellow Frenchmen, Marcel Desailly and Italian, Demetrio Albertini, who both occupied Milan’s midfield at the time.
Although, unfortunately, this was a bit of a double-edged sword.
You see, the aforementioned players that Vieira looked up to so much were also the barriers that were blocking his way into the first team. Ultimately, he only ended up making 5 appearances in all competitions in the Milan first team during the 1995/96 season.
And as much of a dream playing alongside these players was, the 1998 World Cup, scheduled to be hosted on French soil, was looming large. Naturally, Vieira wanted to play a role in it. And to do so, he needed one thing. Game time. And lots of it.
Coincidentally, another Frenchmen was just about to take the Premier League by storm, and Vieira was high on his shopping list.
Early Days at Arsenal
Now, Patrick Vieira’s desire to leave AC Milan only one season after joining them, in 1996, was pretty widely publicized. So much so that Ajax, the team that beat Milan in the Champions league final one season prior was reportedly in advanced talks with the player.
That was until Arsène Wenger convinced Vieira to snub them and join him at Arsenal for £3.5 million, as one of his first official signings for the club.
A transfer that certainly raised a few eyebrows.
Remember, this was 1996. Unlike today, £3.5 million for a player, was a rather large sum of money back then. Especially for a 20-year-old Frenchmen. Another thing that you remember is that foreign players had only just started making their way into the premier league en-mass.
In other words, Vieira had it all to prove.
And my word, did he do a fine job at doing so.
As you can imagine, when he joined the club, many weren’t expecting very much from him. But after a few games, the fans quickly began to realise that this man was the real deal.
Embed from Getty ImagesTo give you a little context, at the time that Vieira joined, Arsenal were in a bit of a rut. And having last wont the league in 1991, their midfield was in need of some major renovations. The likes of Paul Merson and David Platt, albeit brilliant player in their day, were ageing and surely on their way out.
But Patrick Vieira brought something different to the table. His versatility and all roundedness, according to Ian Wright, was something that Arsenal were in dire need of for quite some time.
His ferocious competitive nature, coupled with his immense aggression, physicality and technical prowess was something that earned him very many fans in his first season with the club. In this season he made 31 appearances, scoring 2 and assisting 4, helping Arsenal to a 3rd place finish in the league. Their highest ever finish in the Premier League at the time, and their best finish since last winning the league before the Premier League even began.
Premier League and International Glory
Despite this, as well as Arsenal’s overall improvement, the team still had a few problems. For example, despite Vieira’s clear and obvious ability to do it all, the team was never going to win anything if he didn’t have more appropriate help in the midfield.
This all changed when Emmanuel Petit was brought in from Monaco in the summer of 1997. Yet another Frenchmen.
You may be sensing a pattern here.
With the addition of Petit, Vieira was given more freedom to burst forward unapologetically throughout the match, all while putting in an insane defensive shift too.
As a result of that, in combination with addition of Marc Overmars and a very talented and motivated squad, Arsenal went on to lift their first ever Premier League title in the 1997/1998 season. Not only that, but they also completed a double which saw them win the FA cup too. And Vieira personally made 33 appearances, scoring 2 and assisting 4.
And I guess I’ll get this out the way now rather than later. It’s very difficult to measure how good a player in Vieira’s position really was, based on stats. Realistically, in the case of a player like him, just his sheer presence, his positioning and the timing of his runs, to name just a few aspects formed large portions of what made him so incredible. And I’m sure you know just as well as I do that you can’t really quantify those contributions. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m only really quoting his stats for the sake of completeness.
Moving along. Over the next few years, things didn’t go as swimmingly for Vieira and Arsenal. They failed to retain the league title and also lost out on the top spot for 3 seasons straight, as Manchester United entered a sustained period of dominance, beating them to just about every trophy available.
In addition to that, his often praised aggressive and competitive approach to the game was landing him in quite a bit of trouble. He picked up several cards and suspensions over the years, with the highest profile showing of his ill-discipline coming in a match against West Ham in 1999. This was after he shoved Neil Ruddock in the face and then spat at him following being sent off for a challenge on Paulo Di Canio.
For these actions, he was handed a lofty 6 match ban and fined £45,000.
Although, Vieira could probably take comfort in the fact that he managed to accomplish his goal in making it into the French national squad for the 1998 World cup.
Although he wasn’t a regular starter for Les Bleus, he firmly grasped all of his opportunities with both hands when they presented themselves. A great example of this is the fact he came off the bench in the final to assist Emmanuel Petit for France’s third goal in their 3-0 win over brazil.
Embed from Getty ImagesAt 22 years of age, Vieira was officially a World Cup winner.
And the party didn’t stop there. By the time the 2000 UEFA European Championship came along, he had done enough to earn a starting spot in the French National team. In doing so, he helped France to yet another major trophy, beating Italy 2-1 in the final.
I must admit, I didn’t watch it personally, but this final seemed to be quite the match. After trailing by 1 goal for almost half of the match, France equalised in the 93rd minute and went on to win in extra time. Pretty exciting stuff. Unless you’re Italian, of course.
Roy Keane
Back to the Premier League and Arsenal and Manchester United were enjoying perhaps the fiercest rivalry in the Premier League era, even to this day. Between about 1996 and 2004 the league was only won by one of these two clubs.
And while this rivalry has been widely covered and publicized, perhaps the most appropriate illustration of it’s ferocity were the battles (both physically and verbally) between Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira. These two were essentially what happens when you pit an immovable object against an unstoppable force. The tunnel arguments, the on-field scuffles. Nothing but excitement.
And further to that, hearing these two speak about their battles adds on a few layers of nostalgia.
Having said that, while the battles may have been exciting, Vieira was more often than not on the losing side of the wars, so to speak. In the 9-year period I’ve just spoken about, United won the league 6 times, with Arsenal coming out on top thrice.
Double Double and invincibility
Now, we’ve already covered the first of these victories. The second came in the 2001/02 season. After years of coming out second best against Manchester United in the league, Arsenal finally came out on top, winning the FA Cup in the process. This was their second double in only 5 years. A double double, if you will.
And Viera played a crucial role, making 36 appearances out of a total of 38 in the league, scoring twice and assisting twice.
And at the end of this season, when Tony Adams announced his retirement, the big man was handed the captain’s armband.
And going into the next season, all seemed to be going according to plan. Arsenal were top of the table for just about the majority of the season, having opened up an 8-point lead by 2nd of March 2003.
That is until everything absolutely fell apart.
By the 23rd of March 2003, United had displaced Arsenal at the top, leading the pack by a single point. To top it all off, Vieira suffered a knee injury that led him to miss the final 5 games of the season.
In the end, United lifted the trophy with five points separating them and second placed Arsenal.
And. Well. I think we all know what happened next. The Gunners returned a vengeance the next season and became invincible in the 2003/04 season with Vieira making 29 appearances, scoring 3 and assisting 4.
And if anything, else that I’ve mentioned in this article wasn’t enough to convince of this guy’s unreal ability, the fact that he was the captain of this iconic team must surely be satisfactory.
Embed from Getty ImagesFinal season for Arsenal
Despite rumours that he might leave Arsenal following this season, Vieira chose to stay in North London in a push to finally retain a Premier League title. Something that Arsenal had failed to do thus far.
However, with Chelsea ruining everyone’s party, this wasn’t meant to be. And with the acquisition of Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona’s youth academy, Arsène Wenger was seemingly ready to phase Patrick Vieira out from the team and introduce a new, dynamic style of play.
In doing so, the end of his Arsenal career was rather poetic. Arsenal had made it to the 2005 FA Cup final and were matched up against Manchester United. After 120 minutes without a goal for either side, penalties loomed large. And with his final kick of a ball for Arsenal Football club, Patrick Vieira scored the winning penalty to help Arsenal to their 10th FA Cup victory.
And just like that. He was gone.
Later Career
But the story doesn’t end here. Despite being 29 years of age, Vieira was still in for a wild ride in what was left of his career.
He then went on to sign for Juventus for £13.75 million, at the beginning of the 2005/06 season. Slotting into the midfield alongside Pavel Nedved and Emerson.
During what proved to be his only year in Turin, he played a large role in helping Juventus to the Scudetto as well as the Supercoppa Italiana, making 42 appearances in all competitions, scoring 5 times and assisting once. Not too bad for someone said to be in the twilight of their career, right?
Yeah, well. The Italian football federation would like a word.
Turns out, Juventus, along with a few other Italian footballing giants were caught up in a highly controversial match fixing scandal that had been ongoing for at least two seasons up to that point. Long story short, Juventus were stripped of their league titles for the 2004/05 season as well as the 2005/06 season.
Also, they were relegated to the second division of Italian football, with Immediate effect. Oof.
At this point in your career, if you’re Patrick Vieira, that simply won’t do. Therefore, he much like several others, including Zlatan Ibrahimović, Fabio Cannavaro, Lillian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta jumped ship and moved on to different clubs.
In the case of Vieira, he went over to Inter Milan for a fee of £6.5 million. However, by this point in his career, he was more or less firmly on the decline.
Despite winning the scudetto with Inter Milan for three seasons straight, he never really established himself as a first team regular and was pretty much surplus to requirement. This was made even more evident after the arrival of Jose Mourinho in 2008.
Therefore, Vieira was on the move yet again. This time, back to England to reunite with his former Inter Milan boss, Roberto Mancini, at Manchester City.
Embed from Getty ImagesIn Manchester, he went on to pick up yet another piece of silverware. An FA Cup, for that matter. And eventually, he retired from the game altogether at the end of the 2010/2011 season.
Closing Thoughts
Okay, so what do we have we have to say about Patrick Vieira? Well, if you ask me, clearly I have quite a bit to say, as evidenced by the article thus far.
The guy was an animal. I personally had the pleasure of watching him play during the peak of his powers in the early 2000s. And he was 100% as impressive as everyone says when they speak about him. Probably even more so.
Like I’ve already mentioned in the article, his ability to more less do everything on the pitch was second to none, in my opinion. And taking into consideration his lanky build and sheer size, this is all the more incredible. Simply put, Patrick Vieira was nothing other than a physical and technical beast.
Sources
https://thesefootballtimes.co/2016/12/20/battling-to-the-top-the-rise-and-career-of-patrick-vieira/
https://footballwhispers.com/blog/greatest-transfers-time-patrick-vieira-arsenal/
https://www.planetfootball.com/nostalgia/patrick-vieira-six-moments-that-made-him-an-arsenal-legend/
https://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20160623/vieira-i-was-always-a-leader
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Vieira#Style_of_play
https://www.premierleague.com/players/1132/Patrick-Vieira/stats?co=1&se=12
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2003/apr/17/match.arsenal
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/49910626
https://punditfeed.com/long-reads/calciopoli-scandal/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/3885873.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/3560576.stm