No new Vieira deal at Arsenal
Patrick Vieira has not been given a new deal by Arsenal.
It was assumed in some quarters that, now that he has made peace with the club following a summer of controversy, the new accord might have been helped by a pay rise.
That is not the case. Vieira's current agreement, which has three years to run, stands.
Arsenal fans were stunned in the summer by a series of articles in The Sun newspaper purporting to be interviews with Vieira. In the articles he was reported to have been highly critical of Arsenal's summer signings and other squad members and to have expressed a determination to leave Highbury.
This weekend in the News of the World, which like The Sun is owned by News International, Vieira described the earlier articles as "Lies, lies, lies."
And today Vieira reiterated his commitment to the London club, going further than in his News of the World interview.
In the Sunday red top tabloid he said he would leave whenever he wanted to but today Vieira said he would only leave Arsenal if and when everybody concerned had agreed about a move.
The 25-year-old midfield player, speaking in Nantes where France play Denmark in a friendly tomorrow night, said: "Everything that was said (in the summer) was false and I am looking for the person who is responsible. I was anxious because the words appeared to come directly from me and the fans may have been afraid that I would drop the club after five years.
"It also seemed as though I was insulting my colleagues like Thierry Henry and Robert Pires by saying they had done nothing. I called Arsene Wenger straight away. He knew very well that I would never say such things about the club or the players."
And he added: "I love Arsenal and I love the club. It may be that one day I will leave but when I do so it will be with my head held high, like a lord. Everybody concerned will have agreed on any transfer."
Vieira said he was pleased by the influx of new players at the club after Wenger's spending spree in the close season that brought Sol Campbell, Francis Jeffers, Richard Wright, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Junichi Inamoto to Arsenal.
He said: "The new players are very good. I have been very impressed by them."
Finally, Vieira described the immense lift he felt when Wenger made him the deputy to Tony Adams. "In England, it is a big honour to be the vice-captain. You become a major personality in the club and I am very proud of that."
