‘He has travelled’… £35m Arsenal player is in Portugal, but he might not play tonight

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Arsenal face Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday evening, and they head into this game with a few selection issues to contend with.

The north London club are set to be without a number of key players as the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Thomas Partey and Takehiro Tomiyasu haven’t travelled to Portugal.

However, according to John Murray, speaking on the BBC Radio Five Live Football Daily Podcast, Fabio Vieira has indeed travelled to Portugal.

Vieira has boarded the plane to Portugal, so he is in contention to return from injury here. However, according to Murray, it’s unlikely that the midfielder will actually be involved here.

Fabio Vieira has travelled

Murray spoke about the £35m man.

“Yeah before we set out here I thought Gabriel Jesus might be involved or Tomiyasu or Zinchenko, but none of them have travelled, not in the squad, Partey as well is still not back. Fabio Vieira who has been out for a period of time now, he has travelled, but I’m not sure he will be involved,” Murray said.

Doesn’t need to play

Vieira doesn’t need to play here.

He’s only just returned from injury, and he isn’t one of the first names on the teamsheet in any case.

It does make sense for Vieira to travel for this game. He did used to play for Porto, and it will probably be a great experience for him to be back in the stadium to see a few familiar faces.

Vieira’s return to Porto will probably be emotional for him, even if he doesn’t play in this game, but after such a long spell on the sidelines, we can absolutely understand why he may not be straight back in the first-team this time around.