Patrick Vieira enjoyed a fantastic career at Arsenal from 1996 to 2005 and helped the Gunners to win three Premier League titles.
But all good things must come to an end and for Vieira it did at Arsenal in the summer of 2005, still some time before the dominant midfielder was ready to finish his career.
Vieira would go on to play over 100 games for the likes of Juventus, Inter Milan and Manchester City before retiring in 2011.
But maybe he feels looking back he left Arsenal a little early? That isn’t quite true but it’s enough of a reality to allow the Arsenal legend to joke about why he left.
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At a reunion of sorts between Vieira and Cesc Fabregas recently, the latter revealed that Vieira had some choice words for him about his departure 14 years ago, with the Frenchman enjoying a joke with his former team-mate.
“I saw Patrick Vieira when we played against Nice with Monaco and it was very funny,” Fabregas told Nice-Martin.
“I met him in the locker room, before the match, and he was with the president of Nice and he said to him while looking at me: ‘President, this is the kid who forced me to leave Arsenal.’”
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Vieira’s joke isn’t meant to be taken seriously but it’s still fair to say that Arsene Wenger’s decision to integrate Fabregas did leave the towering midfielder having to play out of position a little in his final season at the club.
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