Arsenal had a very tough period between 2005 and 2014.
Indeed, the Gunners had a nine year trophy drought in that period, and largely, that was down to the fact they never really replaced Patrick Vieira.
Indeed, Patrick Vieira was one of Arsenal’s greatest players, and his departure in 2005 left a glaring hole in the Gunners’ midfield.
Cesc Fabregas came into the team at that time, and while Fabregas was amazing for Arsenal, he wasn’t quite Vieira in terms of his physical presence.
Arsenal did try to replace Vieira, Abou Diaby was meant to be the next Vieira at one point, but injuries hampered his career.
Jermaine Jenas was linked to Arsenal around this time as a potential Vieira replacement, and according to Jenas, speaking on Filthy Fellas, Arsene Wenger did indeed regret not signing him, as he told him at an awards ceremony a few years ago.
Arsene Wenger told Jermaine Jenas he should’ve signed him
Jenas shared how close he was to joining Arsenal and details of a conversation he had with Arsene Wenger.
The former England international says Wenger told him he should’ve signed him, claiming that he did want to sign for Arsenal at one point.
“Was Arsenal coming in? Was it just rumours or was Arsenal coming in for you and saying Viera replacement and all that?
“At that particular time, look, obviously it’s hard to talk about being a Tottenham man, but essentially when I was at Newcastle, so Arsene Wenger was always talking well of me openly. For me at that particular time, Arsene Wenger was basically what Pep Guardiola is now. You knew if you got into Arsene Wenger’s hands, that he was going to elevate you as a player to that level you wanted to get to.
“I knew that obviously Patrick was leaving at that particular time. I think Arsene Wenger did a whole chat around. I was going to meet all of England in the summer and he did some press conference of some sort around end of the season stuff.
I remember being on Sky and yellow bar comes along. It was like Arsene Wenger interested in Jermaine Jenas or whatever and I’m like, I’m going Arsene. I’m ringing Ash, I’m like, listen, get this over the line, speak to him and he’s like, I’m trying.”
“But I think at that particular time, obviously stadium’s been built and Arsene was finding some gems in France as well and he had a 15 year old Cesc Fabregas, Abou Diaby.
“I mean Abou was definitely one of the best I played against. He was a player. So it was more to do with that.
“It was more to do with the politics and logistics around what he could and couldn’t spend at that particular time. But actually, weirdly, I did some work with FIFA a couple of years ago, hosting the best awards and Arsene Wenger works at FIFA now. So I was like, I’m just going to ask him.
“So I was like, Arsene, why didn’t you buy me? What happened? And he went, ‘I knew you were going to ask me this.’
“And he said, look,’ I should have bought you when you were at Forest.’ He said, that was my mistake. He said, when you were at Forest and you were leaving, that’s when I should have bought you.”
Arsenal finally have their Patrick Vieira replacement
Jenas never got his chance to move to Arsenal to replace Patrick Vieira, but, the Gunners, finally, 20 years later, finally seem to have their Vieira replacement.
Indeed, Declan Rice has been touted as a Vieira replacement in recent times, and it’s hard not to see the parallels.
Rice is operating at a world-class level, at the moment, and, much like Vieira, he’s an all-rounder who can boss the midfield in multiple ways.
Rice reads the game well, he’s strong, he’s fast and he’s even adding goals to his game lately.
In fact, Rice has been suggested as a striker option for Arsenal in recent times.
Arsenal had a tough period between 2005 and 2014, bur now, the Gunners are back to something close to their best, and, who knows? By the end of this week we may be talking about a team that are Champions League finalists.
