When it comes to legends, not many clubs can boast more than Arsenal.
The Gunners have been blessed with simply incredible players over the years, especially during their Invincibles era.
An attack that included Thierry Henry and Robert Pirès, a defence boasting Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole and a midfield with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp and Gilberto Silva in it – it was a side that could give any team a proper game.
Moreover, the man who led them was as tough as he was technically brilliant, Patrick Vieira, and it looks as if Mikel Arteta may just have his own version of the Frenchman in the squad today.
Vieira's Arsenal career
Arsenal signed Vieira for what now looks like a minuscule fee of just £3.5m in the summer of 1996, and while he was just coming off an unsuccessful spell with AC Milan, it didn’t take long for the French superstar to prove his worth in red and white.
He made 38 appearances across all competitions, 37 of which were starts, in his first campaign for the club, and in just his second season, he played a vital role in helping the team win the Premier League and FA Cup.
For most of his time in the capital, the Dakar-born titan was an integral part of the often ferocious rivalry between the Gunners and Manchester United, with his battles with Roy Keane still considered some of the most exciting in the league’s history.
Never afraid to back down from a fight or shrink under lofty expectations, it made perfect sense when he was handed the captaincy in 2002, and it was under his leadership that the club picked up another league title and FA Cup.
When Vieira left to join Juventus in the summer of 2005, he had amassed a staggering 405 appearances for the club, in which he had scored 32 goals, provided 45 assists and averaged 2.01 points per game.
It would be fair to say that while they certainly tried, Arsenal were unable to truly replace the French star for well over a decade after he left, until Arteta made a record-breaking signing in 2023, that is.
Arsenal's new Vieira
So, it’ll come as no surprise to most of you that the player we are talking about is, of course, Declan Rice.
Arsenal splashed a club-record £105m on the former West Ham United captain in the summer of 2023, and while he has not achieved anything close to what Vieira did at the club, there are some undeniable similarities between the pair.
The first is the simple fact that, like the Frenchman, the Gunners’ number 41 is a midfielder who excels at both the defensive and offensive sides of playing in the middle of the park.
For example, while the “world-class” Englishman, as dubbed by journalist Tom Marshall-Bailey, has become more of an eight at the Emirates, he’s still just as effective at breaking up play as he ever was, be that with a sliding tackle, or a well-timed standing tackle – he’s a defensive unit, much like the former Arsenal star.
Moreover, just as the former captain was capable of scoring or assisting a goal at times, the 26-year-old has also become someone the manager can rely upon to help out in the attack, as in 91 appearances, he’s scored 12 goals and provided 18 assists.
Appearances
91
Starts
84
Minutes
7380′
Goals
12
Assists
18
Goal Involvements per Match
0.32
Minutes per Goal Involvement
246′
Finally, while Wenger officially handed the former Invincible the armband, it’s incredibly apparent that the 62-capped Englishman is one of Arteta’s leaders on the pitch, as, even without the official title of captain, he’s often the one sharing the boss’s instructions to his teammates, and is undoubtedly more vocal than Martin Odegaard.
Ultimately, Vieira is one of Arsenal’s greatest-ever players, and while Rice has yet to achieve anything close to what he did at the club, he is starting to act a lot more like him on the pitch, and who knows, with a more clinical forward next season, he could also start hoovering up trophies in N5.
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