A member of the ‘Invincibles’, the midfield legend would love to return to the club where he hit his peak as a player
Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira has revealed that he would one day love to return to the Emirates Stadium to coach his former team.
The ex-France midfielder was a lynchpin of the Gunners team that lifted the Premier League title in 2003-04 as the ‘Invincibles’, having negotiated the duration of the campaign undefeated.
He has since graduated to management, earning his spurs at Manchester City before taking the head coach role at New York City before moving to Nice in Ligue 1 in the summer of 2018.
Vieira impressed last term on the Cote d’Azur as he put together a competitive side that narrowly missed out on Europe, despite limited resources and, with more money to spend this summer, appears to have constructed a unit capable of making a similar push.
But while he says he can attain his aspirations at the Allianz Riviera, he would one day love to return to England to put his mind on the greatest stage.
“Yes, like any player, when we do this job we want to reach the very highest level,” he told RMC’s ‘Team Dugga’ program when asked if he would want to manage Arsenal, also confessing he would also be open to coaching France.
“But I can reach a very high level with Nice from the moment we give ourselves the means to succeed and at the moment the way which we work is quite consistent.
“But we do this job, and I do this job, to one day to be the coach of a team that participates in the Champions League or the World Cup.”
Vieira turned out for some of the game’s biggest clubs, including Juventus, Inter and Manchester City, though it was at Arsenal where he was an icon, having played over 275 league matches for the Gunners, whom he helped to three Premier League titles and three FA Cups.
With France, he was a World Cup winner in 1998 and a European Championship winner in 2000. He played 107 times for his country, just one of six players to have hit treble figures for Les Bleus, and scored six goals, including the winner in the 2001 Confederations Cup final against Japan.
Be the first to comment