If the signing of one of the Premier League's greatest ever players is a mark of the progress made by Manchester City over the past year and a half, then an even greater indicator would be the fact that it is not immediately obvious how he could fit into their team. Patrick Vieira has made no secret of his desire for regular first-team football at City ahead of this summer's World Cup, yet Roberto Mancini's side already have a healthy complement of international central midfielders.
Mancini has not been in the job long enough to settle on one formation, let alone a regular starting XI, but the names in Vieira's way include Stephen Ireland, Gareth Barry and Nigel de Jong, while Vincent Kompany might also stake a claim were he not already filling in for absentees in the defence. Ireland was named the club's player of the season in 2008-09, while Barry and De Jong have been two of City's most consistent performers so far this season.
At his peak Vieira would have walked straight into such a team, but his form in Italy over the past few seasons suggests that peak is some way behind him. At 33 Vieira would hardly be the oldest midfielder in the Premier League, but during four years at Internazionale his playing time has steadily decreased and it is some years since he has been capable of the all-action displays that characterised his days at Arsenal.
Indeed, while the face will be familiar to English fans, the player himself may not. By the time Mancini left Inter Vieira's capacity for box-to-box running had been diminished by a string of niggling knee and hamstring injuries. Since taking charge in the summer of 2008, José Mourinho has rarely asked the player to perform as anything other than a holding midfielder sitting in front of the defence.
But while his sense of positioning and ability to pick the right pass under pressure might suggest Vieira would be suited to such a role, in practice he has never settled into it. Although he is aware of the spaces he should take up, Vieira's desire to be involved at all times tends to drag him up the pitch and his declining pace means that he often struggles to make up the ground when opponents look to counter.
This, in turn, leads him to give away fouls. In 91 official games for Inter, he was shown 26 yellow cards and three red. That is not to say that Vieira is incapable of turning in a solid performance.
"Patrick was with us to the last and played an incredible game," said Mourinho after giving the player a rare full 90 minutes during Inter's 1-0 win over Chievo on Wednesday. "He could have refused to play or pulled out of challenges, but instead he gave everything. I am sad that he is leaving but also happy because he is going to a team where he will play more."
Vieira may play more, but not every game according to his old Arsenal team-mate Lee Dixon. "It's four and a half years since he left Arsenal, and if you are asking: 'Can he play at the top level?', then I wouldn't think he'd play every week," Dixon said.
"Patrick gets a few little niggles and hasn't got a classically fit footballer's body, where you know he's an athlete who can go on and on," Dixon said. "He might look like he has that body, but he hasn't. He always needed a long time to recover after games, longer than some of the older lads."
If there is one area of Vieira's game that has not been in doubt this season for Inter it is his work ethic, and while Mancini has yet to speak publicly on his reasons for signing the player it seems likely that this was a major factor. Mourinho has alluded a number of times this season to young players in his squad whose sense of entitlement prevents them from working hard enough on the training ground, but Vieira's conduct has been beyond reproach. Mancini may already have detected one or two in his own squad who would benefit from the example.
Mancini may also simply have been moved by a desire to bring in somebody who is used to winning. As well as the World Cup in 1998 and a European Championship with France two years later, Vieira has won the Premier League and Serie A three times. De Jong, Ireland, Barry and Kompany can only scrape together three domestic titles between them.
Experience, and above all experience of winning, can often prove telling in a league campaign, though Vieira will not be content merely to provide a positive influence from the bench. He expects to start, and Mancini has once fallen out with the player – Vieira refusing his handshake after being substituted during a game in 2008. But if Manchester City are going to continue to progress, these are the sorts of hurdles Mancini will have to overcome.
