Some news about the other Uncle Pat. Unemployed since his dismissal from Genoa last November, Patrick Vieira would really like to coach again in Serie A. I didn’t give the best of myself, I left unfinished work. This is what he declared to the Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview published this Saturday.
The Italian sports daily took the opportunity to ask him if he had any regrets about his playing career. Answer: only one. Not playing for Real Madrid. They approached me for four consecutive years, while I was at Arsenal [from 1996 to 2005]. The last year, I said yes, all agreements were concluded, but I finally changed my mind. I loved Arsenal too much.
The one and only
Having played for three Italian clubs, Milan, Juventus, and Inter, Vieira ended his playing career in 2011 after a one-year stint at Manchester City, a club he later became an ambassador for, which led to an encounter with Florentino Pérez: “When I went to Madrid, […] he showed me an article on the front page of Marca about the transfer and said to me: ‘You are the only player to have refused Real Madrid.’“
Does that deserve an extra line on the resume, right?
