As mentioned in today’s paper review, rumours abound that Tottenham are to sign the former Arsenal skipper Patrick Vieira on a free transfer from Inter Milan.
Just take a look at the above. Could we ever accept the man on the right as a Tottenham player? I don’t think so, though at a push I might give the man on the left a job as a steward, just so we could laugh at him.
Vieira will go down in history as one of Arsenal’s greatest ever players. The annoyance factor that we would cause to Gooners by signing one of their favourite sons shouldn’t be underestimated, but you know what they’d roll out a line about us signing their cast offs and turn the joke around on us.
And let’s face it, they’d have a point. Vieira’s best days are clearly behind him. If he can only manage to stay fit to play a handful of games a season in Italy, what chance would there be of him still being a physical presence in the rough and tumble of the Premier League?
So Vieira is out (we hope). He’s no longer up to it and also, we hate him. These are two very compelling reasons to let him continue to rot in Milan.
There is however another rumour linking us to the signing of Mathieu Flamini. Having left Arsenal on a free transfer last summer, Flamini has been played out of position at right back for much of his stint at AC Milan.
As we know, Harry is very fond of players that can provide cover for that problematic right back position at Tottenham, though one would assume that Flamini would be earmarked for a central midfield position.
The signing would make a lot of sense. Flamini and Palacios would combine to make a very strong midfield partnership, while Flamini could play in a ball winner role, should we decide to pair him with Modric or the Hudd.
Just as importantly, the annoyance factor for our friends from Woolwich, would this time be very real. Flamini walked away from Arsenal without them receiving a penny and their fans can’t deny (though they’d undoubtedly try) that they would have enjoyed a more successful season last term, had he stayed.
Having just just watched the Carlos Tevez conference at Manchester City, I can’t imagine that Flamini would be that bothered about ‘betraying’ the Arsenal fans. By the way, how come Tevez can’t speak a word of English even though he’s lived over here for about four years now? And he wonders why Alex Ferguson wouldn’t talk to him.
Getting back to the point, it’s a signing that makes sense from a lot of angles, but would I prefer us to just sign someone else who hasn’t been tainted by the red and white? Of course, but of the two ex-Arsenal options, I know which one I could tolerate.
