Patrick Vieira has been sold to Juventus for €20 million. You can read the press release here on Arsenal.com.
I’m sad to see him go, thought not as gutted as I expected. He’s given a great nine years to the club, and I feel we may have seen the best of him already. I would rather have the money for him instead of having a player that doesn’t want to be at the club.
Of course, speculation will now ensue over who will replace him. There’s been talk of Jermaine Jenas, among others. Wenger’s comments seem to indicate that he’s happy with Fabregas, Flamini and Gilberto. If Pires and Ljungberg sign contract extensions, then there’ll be six midfielders including new signing Hleb. I’m not sure whether Cesc Fabregas can fill the shoes of Patrick Vieira, but perhaps this is a sign of a change in style for Arsenal, with a bit more flexibility coming into the tactics. Only Arsène really knows, and we’ll have to wait a couple of weeks till the start of the season to get an idea how the new Arsenal will shape up without PV4.