Romano denies ‘it’s over’ for summer Arsenal departure, with club keen to ‘assess’ his performance

Transfer insider Fabrizio Romano has denied that “it’s over” for Fabio Vieira at Arsenal, as the club want to “assess the situation” of the midfielder after his loan back to Porto.

A loan return to Vieira’s former side, Porto, could have spelled the end of his tenure at the Emirates. According to Romano, many people feel that will be the case.

Indeed, he played just 11 Premier League games last season, and has returned to a club who clearly value him very highly, after 76 appearances there following his academy graduation.

But Romano states things are not over for Vieira, with Mikel Arteta and Co keen to see how he gets on away from the club, and the midfielders he has at his disposal get on with the Gunners.

“Yeah, there are many questions on this one because we had many rumours on Fabio Vieira,” Romano told the Here We Go Podcast.

“After he joined Porto on loan from Arsenal, many people starting saying ‘okay, it’s over for Fabio Vieira at Arsenal’. What I’m told is that this is not the case.

“Arsenal only wanted to do a straight loan with no buy option included, because they want to assess the situation of Fabio Vieira again in one year.

“They told internally that Fabio really needed to play on a constant basis every single weekend, to feel the confidence and feel as an important player for the new club and coach.

“He was an important player at Arsenal, but it was very difficult to play with the top players they have at the club, and so they believe that the loan to Porto is the perfect solution to see the level of Fabio Vieira now after being in the Premier League for a few years.”

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Vieira’s struggle for Arsenal minutes

Last season’s tally of just 11 league games is not a surprise considering the other midfielders in the Arsenal squad.

With Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey and Jorginho in the squad, minutes were always going to be hard to come by.

Mikel Merino has since been added to that group, giving Vieira even more competition.

But for a player who was directly involved in 20 goals in 27 Liga Portugal games for Porto prior to his departure to the Emirates in 2022, the Portuguese outfit could be just the place for him to show his worth again.

If that happens, Romano’s comments suggest he could push his way back in at Arsenal.

More midfield links

But there could be more overcrowding in that midfield soon.

Reports suggest that free agent Adrien Rabiot could join the club, having been offered to them.

If that happens, Jorginho may potentially leave – which could happen at the end of the season either way – so it may only be one in and one out.

But TEAMtalk understands that Arteta does not want to let Jorginho go, so there could well be a swell in the midfield region, meaning Vieira could have to explode back into life to gain a spot back.

Other signings when Vieira joined

The midfielder was signed by Arsenal in the same window as Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Matt Turner and Marquinhos.

The former pair bedded in immediately, though their minutes are not quite as consistent now.

Turner left the following summer, and Marquinhos is on his third loan away from the Gunners.

It would seem the reason he keeps being loaned it is so that he can get to a level where he is good enough to play for Arsenal’s first team.

While Vieira is three years his senior, there is no reason the same can’t be true of him if he works hard back at Porto this year.

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