Arsenal loaned Fabio Vieira out to Hamburg in the summer transfer window.
The Portuguese midfielder joined the Gunners back in 2022, and he was viewed as a backup to Martin Odegaard in attacking midfield.
Vieira showed flashes of his quality in the famous red and white, but he failed to establish himself as a regular at the Emirates.
Now, he is struggling on loan in the Bundesliga.
Arsenal loanee Fabio Vieira gets criticised by the German media
Fabio Vieira’s loan spell at Hamburg is not going to plan.
The 25-year-old was initially a target for Stuttgart in Germany, and a deal really did look like it would go over the line. However, Sebastian Hoeneß chose to sign Bilal El Khannous instead, and that opened the door for Hamburg to land the former Porto man.
There was a lot of excitement around Vieira, but he has received more red cards than he has scored goals so far.
The Arsenal loanee was sent off against Union Berlin and was suspended for two games. In his second game back, he was shown another red card against Koln.
Ahead of Hamburg’s game against Stuttgart, BILD talk about how El Khannous has scored five goals and provided four assists so far.
Comparing that to the Arsenal man, they wrote: “Vieira is still a long way from that at HSV.
“In addition to two dismissals (red at Union Berlin, yellow-red against Dortmund), after six Bundesliga games (426 minutes of playing time), there is an assist in the 2:1 win against Heidenheim in the statistics.
“Given his quality, the Vieira statistics are significantly too meagre.”
Mikel Arteta was so wrong about Fabio Vieira!
“When I saw him, I really liked what I saw. Straight away, I was convinced that he was a player who can help us go to the next level and that he had the right personality and character to play for our club.”
Mikel Arteta speaking about Fabio Vieira in a press conference in September 2022
Fabio Vieira’s poor form is a problem for Arsenal
Andrea Berta must not be happy seeing Vieira’s poor performances.
Having more red cards than goals for an attack-minded player is terrible. Hamburg are suffering now as a result, but in the long run, it’s Arsenal’s problem.
The German club have an option to sign Vieira at the end of his loan for €20 million (£17.5m), but if his performances remain the same, they will surely decline.
That would further mean that Arsenal will have to find a buyer for the midfielder, whose value would’ve dropped well below the above figure.
This is a major worry for Berta, who we’re sure will be hoping that Vieira performs well in the coming months.
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