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Is Patrick Vieira right for City?

Author: John Harris
Date: 12/01/2010
Football betting

Patrick Vieira is back in the Premier League after a four-and-a-half year absence but the question on everybody's lips must be is the former Arsenal captain past his sell-by date?

Vieira, now 33, has joined Manchester City on a six-month contract and new Eastlands boss Roberto Mancini believes he has pulled off a major transfer coup.

The France midfielder was allowed to leave Internazionale on a free transfer after playing in less than half of their Serie A games this season.

However, Mancini does not subscribe to the theory that Vieira won't be able to cope with the fast-paced nature of the Premier League in the twilight of his career.

"Patrick is a world class midfielder with a winner's mentality and will fit into this group very well," claimed the Italian, who took him from Juventus to Inter in 2006.

"He is one of the great players of his era with every almost every honour in the game against his name."

However, it can't be ignored that City have only seen fit to furnish Vieira with an initial six-month contract.

With all the wealth now on offer at the City of Manchester Stadium, it is hardly a glowing recommendation of a player who many Arsenal fans grudgingly admitted was past his best when he left them for Italy in 2005.

That school of thought was further endorsed when Vieira returned to his former club with Juventus in the quarter-finals of the Champions League six months later and was given the run-around by a youthful central midfield partnership of Cesc Fabregas and Mathieu Flamini.

The other major question mark hanging over Vieira is did City really need to strengthen an area of the squad that doesn't appear to be a priority?

Gareth Barry, Nigel De Jong, Stephen Ireland and Vincent Kompany have all played in the centre of midfield under Mancini or predecessor Mark Hughes this season and performed admirably.

Meanwhile, City have looked suspect across a patchy back four and in the wide midfield positions.

For his part, Vieira claims he can land a fourth Premier League winners' medal with online betting fourth favourites City, saying: "I strongly believe we are not out of the race to win the title. I am sure we can do it."

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However, Vieira's first task might be trying to force his way into a side that already has an embarrassment of younger, quicker and perhaps hungrier central midfield players.

Only then will his aim of breaking back into the France national team ahead of the World Cup become a possibility.

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