Man City close in on Vieira

January 6, 2010

Manchester City are edging closer to a shock swoop of Internazionale midfielder Patrick Vieira on loan, as Olympique Lyon’s interest wanes in the former Arsenal player.

Vieira, who has made 15 appearances for Jose Mourinho’s side this season with most of them from the bench, is expected to move to the City of Manchester Stadium within the next week.

Ligue 1 giants Lyon, along with a host of other top clubs, have been linked with the France international and the club president’s special advisor, Bernard Lacombe, now believes it is unlikely he will return to Ligue 1.

“We’ve talked a lot about Patrick Vieira,” he told RTL.

“We’ve talked again about him with the coach these past few days, we’ve looked at videos, all this. At the moment we’re hesitating a bit.

“He’s an immense player, who we would have wished to have, but it’s a bit troublesome because first of all he can’t play in the Champions League and also we’re not the only one interested in him.

“There are other clubs, big clubs, although of course it’s true he needs to play at a club where he can play regularly in order to go to the World Cup. Also we have (Maxime) Gonalons who is steadily carving out a place for himself and we don’t want to close down his chances either.”

Lacombe revealed that Barcelona are also after Vieira but feels that is an unlikely move for him.

“Vieira could be the leader of our dressing room because he’s played at huge clubs,” continued Lacombe. “Moreover, when you come to the end of your career there’s only one or two great competitions left, there’s the World Cup coming up and Patrick Vieira really wants to play in it.

“So it’s obvious he would do better to come to our club because there are clubs like Barcelona who want to see him because they’re losing Yaya Toure and Seydou Keita (at the African Nations Cup) but what scares Patrick and what we’ve talked about is that these two lads will come back in February or mid-February and he’s scared of then not playing again.”

Jose Mourinho has confirmed the player is set to leave Inter.

When asked about the chance of Vieira staying with his club, Mourinho told a news conference: “Very little. But as long as he is with us, I trust his professionalism.”

Vieira is likely to be called into action at Chievo on Wednesday with Inter’s midfield hit by injuries and suspension while his imminent departure could prompt Inter to seek a replacement in the transfer window, Mourinho added.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger would be “surprised” to see Patrick Vieira turn up at City, but has no doubts the former Gunners captain can still do a job in the Premier League.

“I will respect Patrick forever for what he has done and what he has achieved here,” Wenger said. “We have young players in his position and are not in a real need to bring players in this position.

“I was surprised it was Manchester City, because there were more talks about other clubs, but it is a good opportunity for him.

“I believe he will still be very effective in the Premier League because he has been injury free for three or four months and that is what he needed.”

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