Vieira ready to stay at Arsenal

Patrick Vieira looks certain to stay at Arsenal for at least one more season after talks with manager Arsene Wenger.

They met on Wednesday night at Arsenal's training ground and Wenger reassured the French midfielder that Arsenal would be making some big signings.

The first three names on Wenger's wanted list were Sol Campbell, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Francis Jeffers. England Under-21 striker Jeffers was signed last night in a deal which will initially cost Arsenal £8 million.

Van Bronckhorst, a Dutch international who plays on the left side of mid-field, should follow Jeffers to Highbury in the next week for around £7m after he made it clear he would not sign a new contract for Scottish club Rangers.

Arsenal will have to wait a little longer before Campbell reveals which club he is joining on a free transfer from Tottenham. Campbell has put his future on hold until the outcome of Barcelona's clash with Valencia on Sunday.

Victory for Barcelona in the Nou Camp will ensure they qualify for the Champions League next season and that would be enough to convince Campbell, who is out of the country at present, that his future lies with the Spanish side.

Wenger admitted: "We are one of the clubs who are interested but the rest is down to Sol. He has interest from many clubs and the choice is up to him."

Barcelona are understood to have met Campbell and his advisor on numerous occasions and have offered him a five-year deal and wages of around £100,000 a week.

Another potential target for Arsenal is West Ham's 20-year-old midfielder Michael Carrick, who has made a huge impact in his brief Premiership career and was called up for England duty by Sven-Goran Eriksson.

The team-building plans were just what Vieira wanted to hear. He has made it clear all along that he does not want to leave Arsenal, where Wenger has helped him developed into a World Cup and European Championship winner.

But he could not disguise his disappointment at Arsenal's failure to collect a trophy for the third season running following their FA Cup Final defeat by Liverpool and once again being left behind by Manchester United in the Premiership.

That explained the doubt concerning his future at the end of the season. But the talk with Wenger will have gone a long way to proving that the ambitions of Arsenal match his own.

He also has faith in Wenger. The French manager has persistently stood by Vieira during an often controversial Arsenal career.

Vieira is aware that a string of continental clubs like Barcelona and Juventus would be only too willing to play £25 million for his services but he is also aware that the high tempo football of English football suits his style and his approach.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in