Arsenal announce Fabio Vieira signing

Fábio Vieira is officially an Arsenal player. The club announced their new Portuguese midfielder via Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, June 21st after teasing the announcement by spelling out “F-A-B-I-O” with the first letter of consecutive tweets, cleverly spotted by many on Arsenal Twitter. You can’t sneak anything by that lot. Actually, Arsenal Direct, the club store’s website pipped them to the announcement, with a banner image of Vieira in an Arsenal kit going live before the actual announcement was made.

The Gunners paid Porto a transfer fee of £30M with approximately £4M in potential add-ons for Vieira. He will wear number 21 at the Emirates, previously worn by Calum Chambers.

Said Mikel Arteta in the announcement post on Arsenal.com , “I am very excited that we have identified and signed such a special talent. Fabio is a very creative player that will bring high quality and versatility to our attacking play. We welcome Fabio and his family to our club.”

Vieira is a creative, pass-first player, who can also chip in with some goals (he said as much himself in his first interview with the club). He scored 7 last season in all competitions in Portugal and added 16 assists. He is left-foot dominant but a two-footed player. He played primarily in the middle for Porto in a CAM, false 9, second striker-type role and can also play on the left wing. For a more detailed breakdown of his stats and how he might fit into the Arsenal formation, make sure to read this post.

Welcome to Arsenal, Fabio!