Patrick Vieira has been backed as a possible successor for Txiki Begiristain as City’s director of football by Frank Arnesen, a man who has himself enjoyed some high-up positions inside some very prestigious clubs during his 20-year career as a sporting director.
Vieira has over the last couple of years been regularly touted as the man to take over from Manuel Pellegrini when his time in charge comes to an end, but it seems Arnesen, who enjoyed a combined six years with Tottenham and Chelsea as sporting director for both sides, believes the Frenchman currently in charge of City’s Elite Development Squad could be fit for a more directorial role.
“Vieira’s going the right way, he’s not straining for it. They [City] should maybe look at him.”
Of the merits Vieira has, Arnesen said “he’s super-intelligent, a very good guy, speaks languages, which is important these days in modern football when you get players from all over the place.”
“Vieira has to make a decision. Do I go the coaching way? Do I want to be head coach or do I want to be technical director?”
“If you had put him in straightaway, you would have lost him because he wouldn’t know what to do. That would be too dangerous.” Thankfully, Vieira has been involved with City in a non-playing capacity for much of the time since he retired in 2011, first being the Football Development Executive almost immediately after hanging up his boots, before becoming the EDS manager a little under two years ago.
With Txiki Begiristain, the current director of football, still only 50, it could be some time before Vieira gets the opportunity to take over the position from the Spaniard. That of course depends if he even wants it – he could be more interested in taking the route into coaching instead; and who could blame him?
