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Patrick Vieira

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Patrick Vieira
Personal information
Full name Patrick Vieira
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Central Midfielder
Team information
Current team Juventus
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of June 6, 2006

Patrick Vieira (born June 23, 1976 in Dakar, Senegal) is a French football midfielder, who currently plays for Juventus F.C.. He captained Arsenal and won the World Cup with France in 1998.

Born in Senegal in the Cape Verdian community, Vieira's family moved to Paris when he was aged 8; he did not return to Senegal until 2003. Vieira first played for AS Cannes, where he made his debut at the age of 17 and captained the team aged only 19. Soon after that, in the summer of 1995, he was snapped up by Italian giants AC Milan, though he mainly stayed in the reserves and only made two appearances for the first team.

In September 1996, the incoming Arsenal coach Arsène Wenger asked for him to be bought from AC Milan before he took up his position. Vieira's height, stamina and physical strength meant he settled in England quickly, while his composure and the quality of his passing meant he became an integral part of Wenger's stylish attacking side. While at Arsenal, he made his debut for the French national side, in 1997 against the Netherlands.

Forming a midfield partnership with compatriot Emmanuel Petit, Vieira won the Premiership and FA Cup Double in 1998, his first full season at the club. That summer, he was called up to France's 1998 World Cup squad. Vieira came on as a substitute for Youri Djorkaeff in the final against Brazil, and set up Petit for France's third goal in a 3-0 win.

Vieira's time at Arsenal was beset by disciplinary problems - in 2000-01 he was sent off twice in two consecutive matches, though after returning he didn't accrue a card for 28 matches. In all he has been sent off eleven times in his career (nine for Arsenal, once for Juventus and once for France).

Vieira would go on to win Euro 2000 with France, as well as a second Double with Arsenal in 2002. After Tony Adams's retirement in 2002, Vieira (already vice-captain) became club captain, since which his temper and associated disciplinary problems cooled somewhat. Though he missed Arsenal's 2003 FA Cup final win with injury, Vieira lifted the trophy jointly with captain for the day David Seaman.

In 2003-04 at Arsenal, he captained the side on a historic unbeaten season in the Premier League, and in the 2005 FA Cup Final he scored the winning kick in a penalty shoot-out after a 0-0 draw with Manchester United. In total, Vieira played 407 times for Arsenal and scored 33 times. For France, Vieira has appeared 83 times, scoring four goals as of December 2005.

Vieira's starring performances for Arsenal earned the attention of several major clubs abroad. In the 2003 and 2004 offseasons, he was strongly linked with a move to Spanish superpower Real Madrid. The Spanish side reportedly offered Arsenal £23 million for him, but after much deliberation Vieira decided to stay at the club where he made his name. However, a year later Vieira was finally tempted away from Highbury. Arsenal accepted a bid of €20m (£13.7m) from Italian giants Juventus F.C. on July 14, 2005, and Vieira agreed a five-year contract with the Serie A side the following day. In his autobiography, he cited the main reason for his leaving Arsenal as the board's 'neutral' position over the Juventus bid.

In an interesting twist of fate, Vieira returned to Highbury on March 28, 2006 to play against Arsenal in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League following the pairing of Juventus and Arsenal in the tournament draw. Arsenal won by 2 goals to nil. Vieira received a yellow card in the match and was suspended for the return leg on April 5, 2006.

With Vieira, Juventus coach Fabio Capello hopes to improve a midfield around consisting of Brazilian Emerson and Czech Pavel Nedved. He started his new season with Juventus in a remarkable fashion, scoring goals and helping Juventus to its record best start with consecutive victories.

On the 21st May 2006 he was the victim of a robbery. The burglars pumped gas into the house while he and his family were sleeping and broke in and stole jewellery and his car. He wasn't affectd by the gas however and was back in training with the France squad days later.

Vieira's future at Juventus has recently been put in doubt because of a scandal involving the team. Juventus may be relegated to Serie B which could mean that its top players, perhaps including Vieira, will want to to leave the club. Rumour with regards to his destination have varied, most notably including a return to Arsenal and perhaps more surprisingly, to arch rivals Manchester United, as a replacement for Roy Keane.

Teams

Honours

External links

Preceded byTony Adams Arsenal captain
2002–2005 		Succeeded byThierry Henry
France squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup runners-up
France
Juventus FC – current squad
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