Arsenal: Patrick Vieira candidacy getting the ultimate hack job

Arsenal’s search for a manager shouldn’t be a brain buster, but the way that Patrick Vieira is being treated makes this seem like a complete hack job.

When you stack Patrick Vieira up against Mikel Arteta, in literally any aspect of football, there is no comparison. Both are midfielders and former Arsenal captains, but that is where the similarities end.

Vieira was a bruiser, no-nonsense, a prolific captain, loved by fans and team mates and led the club to handfuls of trophies.

Arteta was an undersized, out of position DM who was moaned over by fans for not being the player that we needed.

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On the managerial side of things, Vieira has taken a sputtering, overburdened New York City FC and turned them into a powerhouse hat knows how to handle their resources and he has no problem making the tough decisions for the betterment of his club.

It isn’t easy to move someone like Andrea Pirlo to the background so the team can improve as a unit.

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Mikel Arteta has never managed a team. He has spent two years as the assistant to Pep Guardiola, and I’m sure that has been beneficial to his understanding of the game. But Vieira served in a small capacity at City as well, before moving to New York City.

There is no comparison between these two as players, or as managers. And yet if you follow/trust the headlines, guess what? There is one heavily-favored over the other, and it’s not the obvious one. Arteta is getting the red carpet treatment, as if there could be no other candidate.

Vieira, meanwhile is being linked only to frustration. After (still unconfirmed) reports that he received nothing more than a token gesture from the club regarding the opening at manager, now reports are coming out of France that he has instead become the front-runner of the job at Ligue 1 side, Nice.

Let me tell you how this better not go – if Arteta is made manager and then Vieira does end up leaving New York City FC for anywhere else, then this club has performed the greatest hack job of the best possible managerial candidate, to the point that it is absolutely, 100% inexcusable.

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Arteta may have a managerial future, but he hasn’t proven anything. Not a thing. Vieira has proven so much more. So much so that it will be a colossal embarrassment if Arteta gets this job and Vieira has to go somewhere else.