On June 16th, while Arsenal twitter (myself included) was clamoring for Arsenal to sign Gabriel Jesus, Youri Tielemans, Raphinha, and Lisandro Martinez, literally anyone to revive the squad, these sneaky mofos in the middle of the night came to an agreement with Porto for the transfer of creative Portuguese midfielder Fábio Vieira to Arsenal for €40 million.
Have I heard of him? Nope. Does he have a great hairline? Yep Is that all that really matters in the end? Absolutely
As crazy a fanbase as Arsenal Twitter is, it is unreal business from Arsenal to keep this deal under wraps and out of the public eye. Up until that point, I had watched 0 minutes of Fábio Vieira highlights or matches but I definitively had enough just from reading one tweet to come to the conclusion of him being the best Portuguese in the Premier League coming into next season lmao (includes Cristiano Ronaldo, Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota, João Cancelo etc.) Without a doubt. As highly touted as Fábio is coming from a Portugal, a player with his profile as a creative left-footed midfielder feels oddly similar to a player we already have in Martin Ødegaard, so what can we expect from him and how will Arteta use him?
Arsenal fit? At first glance, with his slight and slender frame, standing at around 5’8″, you can’t but compare him to Bernardo Silva. Add in the left-footed creative midfielder who can also play on the front 3, and it is a match made in heaven. Being Pep’s understudy at City, it is also not hard to see Arteta trying to replicate what Pep has created and seeing Fábio Vieira as the Bernardo Silva part of the Arsenal starting XI. 6 goals and 14 assists in 27 matches to Fábio’s name in the Primeira Liga last season is a splendid season and productive output for a player at his age of 22.
At Porto he lined up as a 10 in their 4-2-3-1 lineup which belongs to Ødegaard in our current system which makes me question where Arteta sees him in our starting XI, that is if he sees him as a current starter. Arteta plays a pretty fluid system especially with the creative players which makes me believe he sees an opportunity for Fábio Vieira to team up with Ødegaard in a 4-3-3 which is a system that the best teams in Europe all currently play as shown below:
As much as I’d love to create the Wenger Renaissance of a team filled with technically capable creative players, what that team had in technical creativity with players such as Santi Cazorla, Mesut Ozil, Tomas Rosicky etc. it more than lacked in physical bite in a physically demanding league such as the Premier League. Wenger tried to create what the Spain 2008-2012 double winning Euros and World Cup winning team which worked for them as they had all-time talents in Iniesta, Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets, Cesc Fabregas etc. and we do not simply have that nor did we have it then with Wenger as hard as he tried to recreate. Trotting a midfield of Thomas Partey, Ødegaard and Vieira seems a little light on paper and would be what teams like Brighton and Crystal Palace would love to feed on if given the opportunity when attacking us on the counter. This system of filling players with technically capable players that are slight in nature works for City cause of their relentless pressing and unreal ability to retain possession. You can see Arteta sees that in Fábio but not sure we have the quality throughout the pitch to be that possession-dominant team with Ødegaard and Fábio midfield but would love to see it. The last iteration I could possibly see with the Fábio Vieira transfer is and the one I want to see the most given our current roster:
The formation I want to see the most given our current roster is an attacking midfield line of Saka, Fábio, and Ødegaard interchanging across the half-spaces with Xhaka and Thomas Partey filling in the CMs role right behind. I believe this provides us the right amount of cover but also inserts our most talented attacking players into the starting XI. I am aware that Saka, Ødegaard and Fábio are all left-footed, which does hinder our options in how we can attack teams but that is something that Arteta obviously thought about before going through with this transfer and is getting paid millions to figure out. Not my problem if this doesn’t work out. This doesn’t include Xhaka, Tierney and Gabriel all being left-footed as well. Maybe Fábio Vieira can fit in as an 8 (Xhaka role) next to Thomas Partey but I’d have to see it first to believe.
Bernardo Silva Lite: Just think Bernardo Silva, just not as refined, maybe Monaco Bernardo Silva. He seems the most comfortable when he is behind the ball, able to combine with teammates as well as see the whole field to pick out teammates making runs. In their Champions League tie with Liverpool this past season, Fábio was able to get away from Liverpool defenders to get an assist with his weak foot:
He does seem to work best picking up the ball in deep positions and orchestrating play very similar to a left-footed German World Cup winner we acquired from Real Madrid. With this comparison, there must be the requisite skill for Fábio to be able to pick out a pass form anywhere on the pitch and that is where he thrives, in those half spaces to teammates making runs in behind:
These variations of weighted passes are what you’d like to see from a creative midfielder like Fábio but whether we have the surging fullbacks (we don’t) or the natural wingers who can make those run in behind (maybe Gabi Jesus or Martinelli but not really) makes it difficult to see how we can get the best out of him with our current roster. Porto deployed him out wide at LM in a 4-4-2 but his most impactful and valuable games seem to be when he was at the SS (second striker) sitting right behind Evanilson or as the 10 in a 4-2-3-1. Below, this game against Belenenses where he recorded 3 assists sitting right in behind Evanilson as the SS:
Kent’s Pessimism: Now we have fully established the quality that Fábio possesses with his silky and fluid movement when he dribbles. As well as his perfectly weighted passes from his wand of a left foot. But as a highly-touted Arsenal signing, there can only be some sort of skepticism and expectation that this will not work out. Let’s start with adding to the lore of Arsenal collecting these diminutive technically capable midfielders that don’t amount to much when trying to win Premier League titles (Cazorla, Ozil, Rosicky, Ødegaard). Think of it, like who do we need to win a on a cold rainy Wednesday night at Newcastle. Yves Bissouma, who Spurs just signed from Brighton looked picture perfect on the physical presence Arsenal needed and we went and got the exact opposite.
Besides the physical profile of the player, is Fábio Vieira the type of player that makes our starting XI better? We will see I guess, I’m sure Arteta has a vision of where Fábio Vieira helps the team, it is just hard to see with the similarities he possesses with Ødegaard.
Final Verdict: As much shit as I give Edu and will continue to give Edu if he doesn’t come through, Edu used his contacts and scouting to obtain a highly coveted and skilled player from Portugal without much attention from the media. By all accounts, he is someone that has represented Portugal throughout his young career and looks like he is destined for the senior team in the coming years. Apparently, Arteta has also had his eye on Vieira for months now, so if that is who Arsenal has gone on and decided to spend €40 million on, so be it. The fee is irrelevant if the talent is what it is supposed to be, we will just have to wait and see, but for now, I can say writing this post has led me to the conclusion we do in fact have the best Portuguese player in the Premier League 🙂
Featured image credits: Getty
Gif credits: Brazil Scout
Video Credits: VSPORTS
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