Reports claim Arsenal agree Vieira fee
Reports in Spain claim that Arsenal have agreed to sell midfielder Patrick Vieira to Real Madrid for £22.1m (€33m).
Both of the Spanish capital’s leading sports papers, Marca and Diario AS, believe the fee has been settled by the clubs for the France midfielder after a protracted transfer saga.
“It is nine million euro less than Arsenal wanted and three million more than Madrid were willing to pay,” said Marca.
It has been widely reported that Vieira will be presented as a Real player tomorrow after his new team-mates return from their Champions League qualifier with Wisla Krakow in Poland although Marca believes that “Friday or the start of next week” is a more likely scenario.
Both papers claim Vieira’s salary is going to be less than that of the four ’galacticos’ signed by Real president Florentino Perez – David Beckham, Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo.
Marca consider he will earn slightly less than £3.34m (€4.99m) a year while AS say Madrid are offering £3m (€4.48m) – the same as Roberto Carlos who joined the club before Perez took over the presidency.
After the Community Shield final Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger gave Vieira a deadline of this weekend to decide where his future lay.
