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Liverpool’s rumoured interest in imminent Arsenal signing Fabio Vieira may have forced the North London club to accelerate their pursuit of the player, according to reports.
The Portuguese under-21 international emerged as being on the cusp of joining Mikel Arteta’s project with the Gunners out of nowhere on Thursday, and has now undergone a medical ahead of the move.
According to the Athletic, this transfer happened “very quickly” and Liverpool’s supposed interest in Vieira may have been a factor in the pace of this deal materialising.
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Arsenal are set to complete the signing in the coming days, with Porto already confirming the deal on Friday.
The fee is rumoured to be in the region of £34 million for the 22-year-old, who is a former team-mate of Liverpool winger Luis Diaz.
The Merseysiders only signed Diaz six months ago in the January transfer window from the Portuguese giants, and this piece of business is also reported to have had an impact on Arsenal’s rapid movement for Vieira.
The Reds themselves have been linked with Vieira, having scouted him when they were looking at their new Columbian recruit. According to the Times, once Arsenal were made aware of Liverpool’s interest, they sped up the process of acquiring Vieira.
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Tottenham Hotspur had supposedly been tracking Diaz, and this proved to be the catalyst for Liverpool bringing that signing forward six months earlier than planned.
Arsenal did not want to allow the same thing to happen again with Vieira.
Jurgen Klopp and new sporting director Julian Ward have been quick to make new additions in this window, with Darwin Nunez signing from Benfica for £85 million last week and Calvin Ramsay from Aberdeen supposedly set to sign for the club. Their ruthlessness in their market movements would have forced Arsenal to act.
Vieira scored seven goals and managed 16 assists in all competitions for Porto in the 2021/22 campaign.
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Topics: Liverpool, Arsenal, Liverpool Transfer News & Rumours