Manchester City have attempted to break the impasse over Alexis Sánchez’s future at Arsenal by indicating that they would be prepared to include Raheem Sterling in a deal for the Chilean forward.
Sterling, who joined City in 2015 from Liverpool for a British record transfer fee of £49m, has been offered to Arsenal in part-exchange after being informed he can leave.
The England international, 22, is understood to be bemused at the decision after scoring twice in City’s three Premier League matches, but is open to the idea of moving back to London. He began his career playing for QPR’s youth team before moving to Anfield.
Sánchez, who has only one year remaining on his contract and has refused to sign an extension, has been a target for City all summer having indicated he would like to work for their manager, Pep Guardiola, once more.
Sánchez was signed by Guardiola for Barcelona from Udinese in the summer of 2011 but left at the close of the following season. He is due to play for Chile against Paraguay in a World Cup qualifier on Thursday having returned from injury in Arsenal’s 4-0 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday. Via theguardian.com #footballplanetcom #arsenal #mancity #alexissanchez #raheemsterling #manchestercity #transfertalks
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Paris Saint-Germain will sign Monaco striker Kylian Mbappe on an initial loan with a €180 million permanent move set for next summer to comply with financial fair play (FFP) regulations, sources close to both clubs have told ESPN FC.
Last week, sources said PSG were close to completing a deal for a fee of around €150m plus either Lucas Moura or Goncalo Guedes, but Lucas did not want to leave PSG and Guedes preferred the option of joining Valencia to Monaco.
PSG sporting director Antero Henrique then tried to persuade Javier Pastore to form part of the deal, but when that attempt failed PSG were left with little option but to agree to pay €180m plus add-ons in a move involving no other player.
The Paris source said that, after further discussions over the weekend, a loan move would be made to land Mbappe with an option to buy that would effectively be obligatory.
Monaco have accepted that Mbappe no longer wants to play for them and that selling for €180m either this summer or next would be their best bet, a source close to the principality club said.
Mbappe, 18, is expected to sign the five-year contract he has agreed with PSG next summer after his loan spell is complete. His move would give PSG the two highest-priced transfers ever within weeks, after Neymar's €222m move from Barcelona earlier this summer.
A loan with an option to buy next summer means PSG will still have funds to purchase Mbappe's Monaco teammate Fabinho and a new goalkeeper, possibly Napoli's Pepe Reina, before the window closes. Via espnfc.com #footballplanetcom #psg #kylianmbappe #asmonacofc #parissaintgermain #transfertalks
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The latest Man Utd transfer rumours:
⚽️ Tottenham Hotspur could potentially miss out on signing Paris Saint-Germain star Serge Aurier, as he prefers a move to United, according to reports in the Sun.
Spurs have agreed a deal to sign the right back from the Ligue 1 side, but his work permit is yet to be finalised, Sky sources understand.
⚽️ Meanwhile, the same paper says United have lost out to Bayern Munich in the race for 16-year-old Dutch wonderkid Josh Zirkzee.
⚽️ And finally, Luke Shaw is in line for a 12-month deal extension so United can protect their investment, reports the Sun.
The England international left back, 22, is only contracted to Old Trafford until the summer of 2018, meaning the player can leave the club for free at the end of the season. Via skysports.com #footballplanetcom #manutd #transfertalks #manchesterunited
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The latest Arsenal transfer rumours:
⚽️ Shkodran Mustafi is ready to move to Italy as Arsenal continue negotiations with Inter Milan, according to reports in the Daily Mirror.
The Germany international, 25, is currently contracted to the Gunners until the summer of 2021.
⚽️ Meanwhile, the same paper says Brighton and Hove Albion have been offered the chance to sign Arsenal defender Mathieu Debuchy.
The versatile French defender has been surplus to requirements at the Emirates so far this season.
⚽️ The Sun claims West Bromwich Albion boss Tony Pulis is going back in for Arsenal's Kieran Gibbs.
The Baggies are expected to offer £13m for the left-back.
⚽️ And finally, Arsenal have lost out to Bayern Munich in the race for Dutch wonderkid Joshua Zirkzee, according to reports in the Sun. Via skysports.com #footballplanetcom #arsenal #transfertalks #theGunners
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Arsenal are interested in signing centre-back Jonny Evans from West Brom, Sky sources understand.
Manchester City and Leicester have had bids rejected for the 29-year-old - who joined the Baggies from Manchester United in 2015 - during the current transfer window.
Sources have told us an enquiry has been made. However, sources close to Albion have stated they are unaware of any contact from Arsenal, who have not made a formal offer at this stage.
Evans, along with his Northern Ireland team-mates, have been training at City's training centre this week before they fly to San Marino on Thursday for their World Cup Qualifier.
Irish boss Michael O'Neill told Sky Sports News last week he wouldn't stand in the way of Evans should he need to leave the camp to deal with transfer business, although Northern Ireland would prefer to resolve the matter before they fly out on Thursday.
City are expected to return with an improved bid to test West Brom's resolve to hold onto the player.
Diego Costa is edging closer to a move to Atletico Madrid as the club are in talks with Chelsea to re-sign him for £41 million, the Evening Standard claims.
The striker has not returned to Chelsea since the summer break and has publicly criticised the club for the way they have treated him. A return to Atletico has long been his preferred destination and it seems a breakthrough in talks has finally been made. If the deal does materialise, he will be unable to feature until January 2018 due to the transfer ban imposed on the club.
The striker has not returned to Chelsea since the summer break and has publicly criticised the club for the way they have treated him. A return to Atletico has long been his preferred destination and it seems a breakthrough in talks has finally been made. If the deal does materialise, he will be unable to feature until January 2018 due to the transfer ban imposed on the club.
Nigel Winterburn is convinced that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain wants to leave Arsenal because he needs a fresh challenge.
Sky Sports News understands a fee for Oxlade-Chamberlain has been agreed with Chelsea, although former Arsenal defender Winterburn believes the unsettled 24-year-old would struggle to become a first-choice player at the champions.
When asked why he felt 'The Ox' wanted to leave the Emirates after six years, Winterburn told Sky Sports News on Tuesday: "We are hearing he wants to play in a more central midfield role but with the clubs he's been linked with, I can't see that.
"Personally, I think he's had enough at Arsenal, it's time to move on and face a new challenge.
"He's been sensational at wing-back. So he could compete with Moses at Chelsea.
"If he wants to play midfield in an attacking role, because I think that is where he wants to play, but at Chelsea that's Willian or Pedro. And can he really be guaranteed a starting place above those players?"
Oxlade-Chamberlain has also been linked with a move to Liverpool but Winterburn believes the England midfielder will struggle to dislodge the Reds' in-form attacking players from the starting line-up.
"The two players he's going to come up against are Salah and Mane," said Winterburn.
"Salah has just arrived at the club and has had a strong start. He's lightning, while Mane has been Liverpool's most important player.
"So, once again, Oxlade-Chamberlain is going to have a battle to say 'where I am going to fit in and how many games am I going to start?'
"So I just think he thinks it's time for a fresh challenge and is saying 'I will take that risk even though I may sit on the bench'."
Winterburn also said that being a utility player is not always in the best interests of a footballer: "It makes him an attractive proposition because he can move positions.
"But sometimes being good in several positions can be frustrating too, if you want to hold down and develop in one regular position."
Sky Sports News understands a fee for Oxlade-Chamberlain has been agreed with Chelsea, although former Arsenal defender Winterburn believes the unsettled 24-year-old would struggle to become a first-choice player at the champions.
When asked why he felt 'The Ox' wanted to leave the Emirates after six years, Winterburn told Sky Sports News on Tuesday: "We are hearing he wants to play in a more central midfield role but with the clubs he's been linked with, I can't see that.
"Personally, I think he's had enough at Arsenal, it's time to move on and face a new challenge.
"He's been sensational at wing-back. So he could compete with Moses at Chelsea.
"If he wants to play midfield in an attacking role, because I think that is where he wants to play, but at Chelsea that's Willian or Pedro. And can he really be guaranteed a starting place above those players?"
Oxlade-Chamberlain has also been linked with a move to Liverpool but Winterburn believes the England midfielder will struggle to dislodge the Reds' in-form attacking players from the starting line-up.
"The two players he's going to come up against are Salah and Mane," said Winterburn.
"Salah has just arrived at the club and has had a strong start. He's lightning, while Mane has been Liverpool's most important player.
"So, once again, Oxlade-Chamberlain is going to have a battle to say 'where I am going to fit in and how many games am I going to start?'
"So I just think he thinks it's time for a fresh challenge and is saying 'I will take that risk even though I may sit on the bench'."
Winterburn also said that being a utility player is not always in the best interests of a footballer: "It makes him an attractive proposition because he can move positions.
"But sometimes being good in several positions can be frustrating too, if you want to hold down and develop in one regular position."
West Brom are looking to beat Watford to the signing of Arsenal defender Kieran Gibbs, according to the Mirror.
The Baggies had previously been interested in the left-back, and Gibbs remains on their radar following Watford's £7m bid. Gibbs has yet to play for Arsene Wenger's side this season, with Sead Kolasinac moving ahead of him in the pecking order.
If Monaco sell Fabinho to Paris Saint-Germain, they will replace him with William Carvalho, L'Equipe reports.
The Sporting midfielder has been on the radar of many of Europe's top clubs for several years but could move to Stade Louis II for around €35m.
Stoke City have completed the signing of defender Kevin Wimmer from Tottenham for £18m on a five-year deal.
The 24-year-old centre-half becomes Mark Hughes seventh signing of the summer after becoming surplus to requirements at Tottenham following the arrival of Davinson Sanchez from Ajax.
Wimmer made only 15 Premier League appearances for Spurs since arriving from FC Koln in 2015 and did not feature for Mauricio Pochettino this season.
The Austrian becomes Stoke's fourth defensive signing during the transfer window and joins Josh Tymon, Kurt Zouma and Bruno Martins Indi in the Potters squad.
Hughes said: "We are really pleased with what we have done this summer, especially in the defensive positions.
"Bringing Kevin here is a real coup in my view, because he is a hugely talented young player who will undoubtedly add further quality to the group.
"We have already brought Kurt (Zouma) into the club this summer and managed to get Bruno (Martins Indi) back on a permanent deal as well, which was important to us, and we have Ryan (Shawcross) here too.
"Obviously this deal was with a view to the future because we know that Kurt is a Chelsea player, but Kevin is our player now and we knew that this deal wouldn't have been available to us this time next year.
He added: "As soon as the possibility of bringing Kevin here presented itself to us we moved quickly on it, and have managed to get the deal done, so we are understandably delighted to have brought him in."
"I had some really good conversations with the manager and they were important for me," said Wimmer.
"He is a very good manager and I like the way he approaches the game. His style of play suits the way I like to play too -he likes his defenders to be able to play out with the ball.
"I am just so happy to be at Stoke now because I really wanted to come here, to a club with such big tradition, so I feel really good and am very excited about meeting up with everybody and getting ready for the matches ahead."
Monaco have shown a late interest in signing Arda Turan this summer as the midfielder looks for a way out of Barcelona, Mundo Deportivo reports.
The 30-year-old has started just 23 of the 36 La Liga games he has played for the Catalan side since joining from Atletico Madrid. The Turkey international's agent, Jorge Mendes, has held talks with Barca over the Turkey international's future, with Galatasaray tipped as a potential destination.
However, Ligue 1 champions Monaco are looking to further add to their ranks amid a host of big-name departures and could make a move for Turan before the end of the window.
Monaco are set to make an €80 million offer for Andrea Belotti, according to La Stampa.
The Torino striker has attracted interest from Arsenal, Chelsea and AC Milan among others over the last year, but remains with the Serie A side with just days left of the transfer window.
A move could still materialise, though, as Leonardo Jardim's side are making their move to sign him to boost their attack as Kylian Mbappe is set to confirm a move to Paris Saint-Germain.
Crystal Palace defender Jeffery Schlupp has returned to the Black Stars squad ahead of the next month double header 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Congo after being out of the team since November last year.
Schlupp, 24, was snubbed by coach Kwasi Appiah for the clash with Ethiopia in the 2019 AFCON qualifier but is returning into the team for the 2018 World Cup qualifier with Congo.
Schlupp was last invited into Ghana squad when the Black Stars visited Egypt in Alexandria for the second group game of the World Cup qualifier - a game the Black Stars lost 2-0.
The former Leicester City versatile defender missed the team's first training session on Monday but he's expected to join up the squad on Tuesday to begin full scale training Crystal Palace
Despite finding game time difficult to come by at club side, Schlupp is expected to go head-to-head with Lumor Agbenyanu for the left back starting spot.
The Black Stars will host the Red Devils of Congo on September 1 at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi as they begin a herculean task of securing a ticket for the tournament in Russia next year.
Ghana have a point from two matches in the group following a draw with Uganda in Tamale and a 2-0 defeat to Egypt in Alexandria. Crystal Palace defender Jeffery Schlupp has returned to the Black Stars squad ahead of the next month double header 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Congo after being out of the team since November last year.
Schlupp, 24, was snubbed by coach Kwasi Appiah for the clash with Ethiopia in the 2019 AFCON qualifier but is returning into the team for the 2018 World Cup qualifier with Congo.
Schlupp was last invited into Ghana squad when the Black Stars visited Egypt in Alexandria for the second group game of the World Cup qualifier - a game the Black Stars lost 2-0.
The former Leicester City versatile defender missed the team's first training session on Monday but he's expected to join up the squad on Tuesday to begin full scale training Crystal Palace
Despite finding game time difficult to come by at club side, Schlupp is expected to go head-to-head with Lumor Agbenyanu for the left back starting spot.
The Black Stars will host the Red Devils of Congo on September 1 at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi as they begin a herculean task of securing a ticket for the tournament in Russia next year.
Ghana have a point from two matches in the group following a draw with Uganda in Tamale and a 2-0 defeat to Egypt in Alexandria.Crystal Palace defender Jeffery Schlupp has returned to the Black Stars squad ahead of the next month double header 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Congo after being out of the team since November last year.
Schlupp, 24, was snubbed by coach Kwasi Appiah for the clash with Ethiopia in the 2019 AFCON qualifier but is returning into the team for the 2018 World Cup qualifier with Congo.
Schlupp was last invited into Ghana squad when the Black Stars visited Egypt in Alexandria for the second group game of the World Cup qualifier - a game the Black Stars lost 2-0.
The former Leicester City versatile defender missed the team's first training session on Monday but he's expected to join up the squad on Tuesday to begin full scale training Crystal Palace
Despite finding game time difficult to come by at club side, Schlupp is expected to go head-to-head with Lumor Agbenyanu for the left back starting spot.
The Black Stars will host the Red Devils of Congo on September 1 at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi as they begin a herculean task of securing a ticket for the tournament in Russia next year.
Ghana have a point from two matches in the group following a draw with Uganda in Tamale and a 2-0 defeat to Egypt in Alexandria.
Why Girona? Man City’s deal with Pep
Guardiola’s brother raises questions
Of all the football deals in all the world, what attracted Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi owner and executives to go into business with their manager Pep Guardiola’s brother and agent?
Manchester City’s purchase of the La Liga club Girona last week combined a billionaire’s swagger with an uneasy impression of keeping business in the family. The unprecedented deal presents a dizzying clutch of questions, the most glaring one concerning the partnership with the agent Pere Guardiola in the joint 88% acquisition of another club. Of all the football deals in all the world, what attracted Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi owner and executives to go into business with their manager Pep Guardiola’s brother and agent?
Inquiries of the Football Association, which has detailed regulations seeking to prevent agents, managers and clubs working incestuously together and having conflicts of interest, produces the answer that no rules have been broken. Pere Guardiola, agent to Luis Suárez, Andrés Iniesta and many other mostly Spanish players including two at City, is a registered intermediary (the new term for agent) with the English and Spanish FA.
The FA does have a regulation, E4, headed “restriction on conflict of interest”, which prohibits a club, club official or manager from having “any interest in the business or affairs of an intermediary”. City and Pere Guardiola are confident that Pep, who will be sending players to Girona on loan, to his brother and agent’s benefit, is not caught in a conflict of interest.
Rule E4 also states boldly that “an intermediary shall not have an interest in a Club”, which seems to catch Pere Guardiola. The purpose is to guard against the very obvious risk that an agent could move players in and out and take fees to suit his own opportunities to make money, rather than make recruitment decisions solely in the best interests of the club.
However, the FA says that the rule restricts agents from having an interest or influence only in an English club. This prohibition on a conflict of interest does not apply to buying into an overseas club. City are understood to have been given this assurance by the FA before they moved from their informal partnership with Pere Guardiola and Girona, in which several City players have been loaned to the Spanish club over the past two years, to a formal deal. The Spanish FA does not have a similar restriction, so Pere Guardiola was free to buy his 44.3% share of the Catalan club, with The City Football Group – the overarching global corporation owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nayan – buying an equal 44.3% stake.
City’s Catalan and former Barcelona chief executive, Ferran Soriano, and director of football, Txiki Begiristain, who know and worked closely with the Guardiola brothers during Barça’s glory years and lobbied ceaselessly to attract Pep to City, have been central to concluding this deal to buy Girona with Pere.
The attractions for their Abu Dhabi employer are said to be that more of the players increasingly accumulated at City from young ages can be loaned for polishing in La Liga, and that buying the club is an investment. The whole 88% of Girona, a small club in a charming ground promoted to La Liga for the first time in its history last season, is said to have cost €7m, which looks like remarkable value. If City’s aim is to make money from their stake increasing in value, then they are also helping Pere, Pep’s brother, do the same.
So another club has been added to the Abu Dhabi portfolio centred on east Manchester, but Girona is much closer to home than the other hubs of Mansour’s empire. His executives, surveying the modern football business after he bought City in 2008 decided early on to attain economies of scale and a global reach for sponsors by buying clubs on other continents.
The New York City MLS franchise buys a stake at the centre of soccer’s growth in the US; Melbourne Hearts, the name changed to City and kit changed to blue, was aimed at securing a presence not only in Australia but Pacific Asia too; the most recent move was to obtain a foothold in South American football with the purchase of Club Atlético Torque in Uruguay. The minority stake in Japan’s Yokohama F Marinos was driven by City’s Japanese global sponsor, Nissan. Having sold 13% of the City Football Group to China Media Capital for £265m in December 2015, City’s executives are now looking to invest in a club in China.
City have been lending Girona players since Pere Guardiola became involved there, when the shares were bought by the French media company TVSE Futbol, in the summer of 2015, before City finally secured Pep’s signature as City’s manager. The principal purpose of buying the club is said to be the football one: maintaining a finishing school to which City can send players whom Pep is not selecting in the Premier League.
Mansour’s executives have famously invested hugely in youth development since his takeover, opening their vast, cutting-edge, £200m “campus” next to the Etihad Stadium in December 2014. Yet for all that spending, global scouting and buying of young overseas players, the chances for most of those accommodated in the campus to play in the first team remain vanishingly small.
Into Mansour’s 10th year of ownership, including eyewatering expenditure in this summer’s transfer window, City have paid approximately £1.2bn to buy players, mostly top class, ready made and in their prime, to win the Premier League twice and become Champions League regulars. The only young player from the academy to approach playing for the first team regularly was Kelechi Iheanacho. Now 20, Iheanacho was hardly a local Manchester boy made good; he was coveted by many top clubs after starring for Nigeria in the 2013 under-17 World Cup, and City signed him in 2014 aged 17. Having made 12 full league appearances in three seasons, and 34 as substitute, Iheanacho has been sold this summer to Leicester City for £25m.
The academy graduates Mansour inherited have departed, notably Stephen Ireland and Micah Richards, and Pep Guardiola’s first major act, a statement of intent last year, was to cast out Joe Hart, whom City fans had watched mature from a 19-year-old signing from Shrewsbury to the captain and England goalkeeper.
City – like all Premier League clubs but more so given the scale of their investment in the “campus” – are increasingly recognising that they have a serious problem giving opportunities to the flocks of young players they strain to attract. The Girona deal is being presented as a way of easing that logjam; there are five City players there on loan. City also have a lending partnership with the Dutch Eredivisie club NAC Breda – no fewer than six City players featured in their game against PSV Eindhoven last weekend, a 4-1 defeat. City’s senior football administrator, Brian Marwood, and Soriano and Begiristain, have fostered a web of other arrangements and partnerships with clubs in England and overseas, to support their own youth development system.
“The buying of Girona is a logical consequence of City’s group strategy and the concentration of wealth in European football,” says Raffaele Poli, head of the CIES Football Observatory, which analyses statistics and trends. “As with other partner clubs, Girona will allow City to develop players and make more of a profit out of them if they sell them – only a few will ever play for Manchester City.”
CIES performance analysis has sought to quantify the increase in market value City are achieving by sending to Girona their players: Pablo Maffeo, 20, the Spanish right-back signed from Barcelona in 2013; Aleix García, the 20-year-old attacking midfielder signed from Villarreal; Marlos Moreno, also 20, a Colombian striker, and the 24-year-old Nigerian striker Larry Kayode. The fifth City player there now is Douglas Luiz, the 19-year-old midfielder signed this summer from the Brazilian club Vasco da Gama, and immediately loaned to Girona.
This is the first time City have bought into a European club, and it raises fraught questions about independence and integrity, as well as the Premier League clubs’ stockpiling of young players. Despite the jarring feel to football’s sporting traditions, there are no rules against “dual ownership” in itself, but if two such clubs play each other, the authorities recognise a risk to genuine competition. City anticipated this potential problem should Girona ever succeed in qualifying for the Champions League and believe they could mount an argument that their arrangement is not caught by Uefa’s restrictions.
Uefa’s rules state that “No individual or legal entity may have control or influence over more than one club participating in a Uefa club competition”.
One definition of “control”, owning a majority of both clubs, will not apply because City have structured the deal at 44% each with their manager’s brother. The one which could catch the relationship with Girona defines control as “being able to exercise by any means a decisive influence in the decision-making” of both clubs. City accept this is a possible description of how the relationship will work – they will surely want some decisive influence – but they are prepared to argue.
The recent decision by Uefa’s “adjudicatory chamber” to allow Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig to play in the Champions League – they decided that Red Bull is only a sponsor and does not own Salzburg and does not operate a “decisive influence” on both clubs – has given City’s lawyers encouragement.
During the phenomenal nine-year transformation of City from hapless local club to Abu Dhabi-owned global corporation, Mansour’s executives have prided themselves, for all the £1.2bn spent, on avoiding the less savoury, incestuous areas of the football business. They have embraced City’s founding church roots and developed a fondness for a motto associated with William and Charles Clegg, the austere, Methodist directors of Sheffield Wednesday, a century ago –“Nobody gets lost on a straight road.”
With this purchase of Girona the City hierarchy is giving the impression of straining to please Pep Guardiola, and the road they are taking looks to have become just a little narrow, and winding.
Vieira: Arsenal need physicality
Arsenal need more strength in order to compete in the Premier League, according to former midfielder Patrick Vieira.
The Gunners suffered their second defeat in three Premier League matches this season after being thrashed 4-0 by Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
Vieira was the defensive anchor in a formidable midfield partnership alongside Emmanuel Petit, as Arsenal - under Arsene Wenger - went undefeated during their Premier League title success in the 2003/04 season.
The former France international, who is now boss of MLS side New York City, enjoys Arsenal's brand of football but says the current squad could do with adding more power to their game.
"If you look at Arsenal today I really enjoy watching them play, they play some really good football," Vieira told Mail Online.
"But that is not enough to win football matches or to win competitions. In our time we were winning and we had the strength to not play well but somehow manage to win the game 1-0.
"I'm not one to say, 'Our generation was better than this generation'. It doesn't make sense to compare the two generations because we are in a different period.
"The team in our generation were more physical but this generation are better football players, there's no doubt about that. So the balance is what Arsenal need to find. We had the physicality to deal with different situations."
The Gunners suffered their second defeat in three Premier League matches this season after being thrashed 4-0 by Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
Vieira was the defensive anchor in a formidable midfield partnership alongside Emmanuel Petit, as Arsenal - under Arsene Wenger - went undefeated during their Premier League title success in the 2003/04 season.
The former France international, who is now boss of MLS side New York City, enjoys Arsenal's brand of football but says the current squad could do with adding more power to their game.
"If you look at Arsenal today I really enjoy watching them play, they play some really good football," Vieira told Mail Online.
"But that is not enough to win football matches or to win competitions. In our time we were winning and we had the strength to not play well but somehow manage to win the game 1-0.
"I'm not one to say, 'Our generation was better than this generation'. It doesn't make sense to compare the two generations because we are in a different period.
"The team in our generation were more physical but this generation are better football players, there's no doubt about that. So the balance is what Arsenal need to find. We had the physicality to deal with different situations."