Arsene Wenger reveals his best-ever Arsenal signing

Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes Patrick Vieira - rather than Thierry Henry - was his best ever signing for the Gunners.

Henry is the Gunners' all-time record goalscorer, bagging more than 200 goals for the club after being signed by Wenger from Juventus. He was a two-time Premier League champion with the London club, but the first of their three top-flight titles under Wenger came before Henry's 1999 arrival.

Wenger's first two signings, Vieira and Remi Garde, were confirmed before the manager's own arrival was official. However, it became clear their moves would have been impossible without their compatriot being Arsenal-bound.

Arsenal finished third in Wenger's debut season, with a young Nicolas Anelka also joining the club, and then won the double after adding the likes of Emmanuel Petit and Dutch winger Marc Overmars in 1997. Wenger made a number of key additions in the years that followed, but looked back fondly on the early addition of Vieira.

"It depends," Wenger told Sir Mo Farah when asked by the Olympian and Arsenal fan about his best piece of business. "If you look at it financially you could say many, many, many. Maybe the credibility I got first was for the first player I brought in which was Patrick Vieira.

"People questioned ‘why do they employ Wenger?’ and after of course we have the following with Petit, Henry, Overmars. [Dennis] Bergkamp was already there, Anelka. You have so many players, you have Kolo [Toure], Lauren. But I think just the first players you bring in you are always judged on.

"After we have so many players. People never speak about Van Persie or Fabregas who were exceptional players. Van Persie scored 96 [league] goals for Arsenal, not far from Ian Wright. Of course Thierry is 175, I think"

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Vieira ended up playing more than 400 times for Arsenal before later going on to win three straight Serie A titles with Inter Milan. He has since moved into management, earning his first Premier League job with Crystal Palace and also spending time at top-flight clubs in France, the United States and Italy.

Back in 2019, Wenger suggested his compatriot could one day manage Arsenal. "I'm really privileged to have worked under Arsene and him saying that is really flattering," Vieira - then at Nice - said in response.

"If I manage Arsenal one day I will take him for dinner and I will pay the bill," he added. "He didn't say it to put pressure (on me). It's just flattering that the guy who spent over 20 years there thinks I have the quality to manage a big club like Arsenal one day."

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