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Arsene Wenger has shed some light on just how difficult it was to replace Patrick Vieira.
Vieira was Wenger’s first ever signing at the Emirates and his dominance in midfield as captain was instrumental in the Gunners’ ‘invincible’ season.
Arguably the club have been screaming out for a player of his calibre since he quit the club in 2005.
However, the former Gunners boss believes that he did manage to replace the midfielder during his time at the club, although not quite in the way others were expecting.
Speaking to BeIn Sports, Wenger explained that finding the ‘next’ Vieira was a near impossible task, so the Frenchman abandoned his search for a like-for-like replacement and instead put into practice a new philosophy – fielding much more diminutive players.
“It was not a conscious decision [to buy smaller players],” said the Arsenal legend.
via BeIn Sports
“And [Emmanuel] Petit was the same. But it was a little coincidence that we got [Cesc] Fabregas. He was not tall but he was still a great football player.
“So I replaced Vieira with Fabregas and Gilberto Silva, who also worked hard for the team, because Gilberto Silva and Vieira was also a fantastic pair and they were the Invincibles.
“And after that came a problem when they built the stadium, we had to sell our best players.”
