Given it didn’t look like he was going to win the struggle to get into Mikel Arteta’s core plans at Arsenal, Fábio Vieira was allowed to return to his former club FC Porto on a loan basis for the 2024/25 season.
Porto made it to the FIFA Club World Cup, and the midfielder remains with the Portuguese side, and played in their 0-0 draw against Palmeiras on Sunday evening. After the match, A Bola managed to get a few words with the 25-year-old and he was inevitably asked about his future.
Vieira’s loan with Porto expires this summer and there’s been talk of him potentially staying. The loan started slowly due to fitness reasons but improved markedly as the campaign went on.
Arsenal have the player on a contract lasting until 2027, so if they let him go on loan somewhere for another season he’d return with only a year of contract left and subsequently impacted value. Given he cost a base price of €35m, the London club will want as much back as possible.
Asked straight out if he’s returning to Arsenal, A Bola quote Vieira as saying: “Right now is not the ideal time to talk about these issues. I am now representing FC Porto and I am 100% focused on this competition, with my teammates. That is what matters to me, the rest will come later.”
