Porto Club announces the transfer of Fabio Vieira to Arsenal, with a total value of 40 million euros, including additions.
While the Porto star is yet to earn his first senior cap for the Selecao, he was voted as player of the tournament at last year’s European Under-21 Championship and produced the most assists in Portugal’s top-flight last season.
However, while the ‘Vieira’ surname might already be hallowed at Emirates Stadium, you only have to look at the reaction on social media to know that he’s not necessarily a player that everyone is familiar with.
What is Vieira all about?
As was similarly clear in Liverpool’s mega-money move for Darwin Nunez, Liga Portugal players can often fly under the radar amidst the obsession with Europe’s so-called top five leagues.
And that really is a shame because everything points towards Vieira being a serious coup for the Gunners with those most familiar with the player whipping up real excitement around the move.
So, Arsenal fans, be sure to get yourselves amongst the hype by doing what supporters do best when it comes to acclimatising themselves with a signing they’re unfamiliar with: watching a highlights video.
Vieira montage gives Cazorla vibes
No, we’re not talking about the cookie-cutter ‘Welcome to’ videos that saturate YouTube, but rather a brilliant compilation shared by Twitter user @AFCJake2 giving a great overview of what Vieira is like as a player.
And given that the caption reads: “Giving me major Bernardo Silva/Santi Cazorla vibes,” you can expect to see exactly the kind of class and composure that Arsenal so often angle for.
An exciting prospect for Arsenal
While some might argue that the Silva and Cazorla comparisons are hasty and there’s a lot of truth in that, you can’t help agreeing with the stylistic similarities apparent in the way that Vieira carries himself on the pitch.
There’s an effortlessness and classiness – a je ne sais quoi, if you will – that pervades certain players, underlining and emboldening their ability to show the game down to their own, all-seeing speed.
And that’s certainly apparent in the way that Vieira strokes silky passes across the pitch and ghosts past players as if he’s doing so at two miles miles per hour.
Porto’s Vieira celebrates.
Granted, the caveat to all this is that Vieira has hitherto only tested himself in his native Portugal, but the foundations are evidently there to become a creative maestro alongside Emile Smith Rowe and Martin Odegaard.
Who knows, maybe it will be overkill and maybe he is too good to be true, but you know it’s a great start to proceedings when you’re earning Cazorla comparisons.
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