Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira has told Setanta.com that Cesc Fabregas is the perfect figure to unite the Emirates Stadium dressing room after a damaging few weeks for the Frenchman’s former club.
Fabregas was appointed as Arsenal’s new captain in the wake of controversial comments from William Gallas at the end of November in which the defender exposed rifts in Arsene Wenger’s squad and accused his team-mates of lacking the necessary fight to compete for the title.
As a result, the Spaniard has now succeeded popular figures such as Tony Adams, Vieira and Thierry Henry at the age of only 21, but he already boasts an impressive reputation in the game and has played over 200 matches for the North London club.
A poor run of Premier League form has done little to dismiss suggestions that Arsenal lack leadership at present though and Vieira concedes that, from the outside at least, it appears that a greater sense of unity is required if the club are to succeed this season.
But in the wake of the dressing room problems so publically uncovered by Gallas, the man who once helped nurture Fabregas into a first team player feels that the Spain star is ready to assume the mantle of repairing recent wounds.
“I don’t know if he was the right choice [to replace Gallas] but he is my choice,” Vieira told Setanta.com when speaking at a fans’ event for Ford’s FeelFootball campaign.
“He knows the club really well. He has been there for quite a long time even if he is still young and I think he is the one who can bring everybody together.
“Because outside it looks like Arsenal are not together.
“I think it [the Gallas controversy] affected the team. Of course it was a difficult period for the team but that is at the back now.
“What is really important for them now is to get focused on the pitch and how they will play well to win games.”
Fears have been raised that handing Fabregas the Arsenal captaincy is an unnecessary burden for a player who, at such a young age, already dictates the direction and pace of Arsenal’s play and is responsible for providing creativity from the centre of midfield.
But Vieira feels that the young man who so seamlessly stepped into his own shoes following the Frenchman’s move to Juventus in 2005 is well equipped for the extra burden of responsibility that Wenger has placed upon him.
“His shoulders are big enough for that,” Vieira added. “You have seen what he has done in the last few years at his age, it is fantastic.
“He has won the European Championship with Spain. So the character and experience, he has it already. He is not afraid of responsibility so I am not worried for him.”