Crystal Palace January signing reveals how Vieira convinced him to snub another move to join Eagles

Over the course of the January window, Patrick Vieira made it clear he wanted some new midfielders at Crystal Palace.

In the end, he got two, with Albert Sambi Lokonga arriving from the Premier League on loan, while the Eagles also spent some money to sign Naouirou Ahamada from VfB Stuttgart.

The former of the two has played in every game for Crystal Palace since his arrival, showing why Vieira wanted him the first place.

The trust placed in the midfielder by the Eagles manager has been remarkable considering how little he had been playing this season, but it’s exactly what the player wanted.

Speaking about the Crystal Palace boss, the Belgian couldn’t be more chuffed, as he convinced him to snub a move to Monaco and stay in London instead.

He explained to RTBF: “He was very decisive in my decision. I spoke to him and had a chat with Philippe Clément. Speaking with Vieira, he made me understand that I would ge more game time and that’s what made the difference between Monaco and Crystal Palace. He promised me minutes.

“If I wasn’t going to be given any, I would have preferred to stay at Arsenal. He told me that Sambi needed to be Sambi again. The one who plays forwards, takes risks, the one you no longer saw at Arsenal. He wanted me to progress individually and that the team was lacking all my qualities. That they didn’t have a player like me in the squad.”

With no option to buy in the deal struck with Crystal Palace, Lokonga will return to Arsenal come the end of the season, although whether he plays there going forward remains to be seen.

Therefore, perhaps a good spell under Vieira could convince the Eagles to splash some money on him in a separate deal?