Ever since he managed the under-21 side for Manchester City, Patrick Vieira was seen as the eventual replacement for Manuel Pelligrini when he would eventually leave the club. Now that it has been confirmed that ex-Barcelona and current Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola, widely regarded as one of the best in football, will take over at the Etihad at the end of the season, it begs the question: what will happen to Vieira’s potential managerial career with Manchester City?
Pep Guardiola loves to win a lot in a couple of years and then go chase a new challenge, so it would be a surprise to see him stay at City for longer than five years. Vieira, former City and Arsenal defensive midfielder, is currently managing New York City FC in MLS, the team owned by the same group that own Manchester City. Many reports have linked Vieira to be the eventual long-term manager for Manchester City, but the former Invincibles midfielder not want to wait so long to have a chance at being the manager of one of the most demanding clubs in the world.
MLS is clearly not Vieira’s goal as a manager, so would it make sense for him to replace Arsene Wenger in north London once his time is up? Well, the ex-Arsenal captain would add some much-needed toughness on the touchline as well as one the pitch because he would instantly spark the entire squad to play with a certain physical edge that the team currently lacks badly.
As a captain, the former French international left it all on the field every single match and led by example, which is a valuable thing for his players to see. Since he could play at the top level, he will expect nothing less from his team whereas Wenger has been accepting less than the team’s best in recent years.
Vieira only has one season of managing senior football under his belt, with that coming in MLS, a league that is not nearly as talented or as intense as the Premier League. If Arsenal can manage the ex-skipper to come in over this summer or next as an assistant to Wenger in order to groom him for the top position, he will be able to reacquaint himself with the club and the players in the team while watching and learning from one of the best to ever manage a club.
Vieira will certainly bring a different style to the Emirates Stadium and a rather unfamiliar approach to his players, but that will probably prove to be a beneficial thing due to the fact that the squad has terribly underperformed this season, and it appears that the toughness that the Frenchman has an abundance of is what the team lacked in order to win the title this season. So, if Vieira does come in after Wenger’s term is up, supporters should consider themselves lucky because Arsenal will not be a soft team if that day does indeed come.
