Arsenal's £34m signing Mikel Arteta was accused of not trusting - and where he is now

View 4 Images

Before Mikel Arteta's obvious shift towards signing physically robust players who excel in duels, the Arsenal manager followed the precedent set by Arsene Wenger in the transfer market. The summer of 2022 is widely seen as the transfer window where Arsenal elevated their level to become the Premier League title contenders we see today.

Two players were credited with the Gunners' transformation - former Manchester City stars Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko. Yet, another signing in the form of Fabio Vieira , who arrived in a £34million deal from Porto in June 2022, also fit the archetype of slight technical players long associated with Arsenal.

Even then, Portuguese playmaker Vieira stood out among his team-mates and other Premier League stars with his notably slim build.

An initial settling-in period was expected given the fast-paced nature of the league compared to the Portuguese Primeira Liga, where he had scored six goals and provided 14 assists before his move. Having signed a five-year contract at the Emirates, an injury sidelined Vieira for the first few games of the season before he watched the following matches from the bench.

He made his league debut in the defeat away at Manchester United but made his full debut against Brentford in September, where he also netted his first goal for the Gunners. The majority of his appearances for the rest of the season were as a substitute, while Jesus and Zinchenko were viewed as indispensable.

By January 2023, it was evident that Arteta didn't view Vieira as a regular starter, leading pundit Gary Neville to claim the Spaniard lacked confidence in his summer signing after he remained on the bench in a 0-0 home draw against Newcastle - a match that could have suited Vieira's talent for breaking down defences with his clever passing and vision.

Neville addressed the situation while on commentary for Sky Sports , saying: "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.

"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."

View 4 Images

Vieira ended his first campaign in north London with two assists and one goal across 501 minutes of league football, with four additional assists coming in cup competitions, where he played 670 minutes.

By the beginning of the 2023/24 season, it seemed Arteta no longer saw the Portuguese as a midfielder, instead deploying him on the right wing as a back-up option. He enjoyed even less playing time in his second campaign.

Arteta was visibly annoyed when Vieira was shown a red card for a rash tackle against Burnley after being brought on as a substitute in November 2023. Following his three-match ban, a groin injury sidelined him for several months, after which he only played 54 minutes of football that season.

View 4 Images

It was clear by that point in 2024 Vieira did not meet the physical demands of an Arteta side, made clearer by the manager’s reliance on players such as Declan Rice and Kai Havertz in midfield. In the summer, Vieira was eager to leave in pursuit of more playing time and a loan deal was agreed with his former club Porto until the end of the 2024/25 season.

It took some time for the creative midfielder to regain his form at his old club but he ended the season in positive fashion, contributing 11 goals in 42 appearances.

Last summer, with Vieira widely considered to have no future at Arsenal, he was reportedly put up for sale upon his return from loan. However, it's believed no clubs were prepared to pay a sum deemed acceptable for a player with two years remaining on his contract.

View 4 Images

In the end, Arsenal reached an agreement with newly-promoted Bundesliga side Hamburger SV, loaning Vieira out again until the end of the current season . Vieira was sent off against Union Berlin in his third Bundesliga match.

He was sent off again in his second match back from suspension against FC Koln, this time for receiving two yellow cards. Since then, he has bounced back with two assists and a goal in his last four outings.

Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.