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Arsenal are in a fight with Leicester City for Porto midfield ace Fabio Vieira, according to the Leicester Mercury.
The versatile Portuguese midfielder had his best season to date for the Dragões, with 23 goal contributions for the Liga Nos giants last season, at an average of a goal or assist every 86 minutes.
Mikel Arteta has been increasingly vocal about the need to add more goals to his Gunners side. The Spaniard’s side were the only team in the top five to underperform their xG last season, so the want to find additional support on both the goalscoring and creative front is unsurprising.
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Versatility in the midfield and forward line has become a core tenant of the Arsenal boss’ tactical make-up, so the potential of signing a player who can operate both in central and wide spaces will no doubt be appealing to the 40-year-old.
Despite his output for Porto, Vieira is yet to break into the senior set-up, featuring instead for the Portuguese u21 side, scoring 11 goals in 19 appearances for the youth side. At 22-years-old, Vieira will no doubt be looking to break into the senior set-up, and a move abroad may well be that catalyst.
Plenty of midfield options have been touted in the upcoming transfer window for the Gunners, with the most intense speculation surrounding Leicester maestro Youri Tielemans.
However, being different profiles of midfielder, it is unlikely the pursuit of the Porto man would affect any transfer for the Belgian international, whose technical excellence is reportedly deeply desired by those at Arsenal.
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Having just undergone a deep clean of the wage structure at the club, the money is there to sign players, it’s now up to Edu and co. to decide whether bringing the talismanic Porto star to the Emirates is the best use of their resources.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Arsenal, Transfers, FC Porto, Liverpool, Liverpool Transfer News & Rumours