‘Caught our eye’: Mikel Arteta thinks 22-year-old could truly explode for Arsenal this season

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has backed Fabio Vieira to become a “very powerful” player for the Gunners this season.

The Gunners snapped Vieira up in June, a signing that went under the radar until it was all-but done.

Arsenal signed the 22-year-old from Porto for a reported £30million fee, with an extra £4million in potential add-ons.

Vieira arrived at the Emirates Stadium with a reputation as one of the best young players in Portugal.

He scored six league goals for Porto in 15 starts last season and has scored 13 goals in 21 appearances for Portugal Under-21s.

In addition, Vieira is an incredibly versatile player.

During his time at Porto he played on both flanks and at number 10, number eight, number six, false nine and even left-back on one occasion.

Sadly, Arsenal fans haven’t seen much of Vieira just yet, due to injury.

The player missed the entirety of Arsenal’s pre-season campaign with a foot fracture sustained on international duty.

However, Gunners fans were able to get a glimpse of Vieira in midweek, as he player for the Under-21s.

The summer signing helped Arsenal’s U21s beat Swansea City in the Premier League Cup.

And speaking ahead of the Gunners’ trip to Bournemouth, Arteta admitted Vieira’s versatility caught his eye.

“Going to give us a lot of options”

The Arsenal media team asked the Spaniard whether he’d consider playing Vieira on the right.

“Fabio’s versatility is something that caught our eye and we believe that he is going to give us a lot of options,” replied Arteta.

“It’s about nurturing how they work together and the type of players that Fabio needs around him to exploit his qualities, which we feel in this side could be very powerful, so we will have to wait and see how that develops.”

Arteta was also asked about a potential partnership between Vieira and Emile Smith Rowe.

“We want players that make each other better,” replied the Arsenal boss.

“And in order to do that, first of all there has to be a chemistry between those players, an understanding and timing and different qualities that they need in order to get what we want to get done.

“We are building that relationship; Fabio has been training with us for a week so he needs to develop that and see where he clicks and where he can make a big impact for the team.”