Patrick Vieira had his priorities in order when learning English
Former Arsenal chairman David Dein has revealed the first words Patrick Vieira learnt in English when he joined the club.
Speaking at a charity event for the Twinning Project – who seek to give prison inmates greater opportunities upon release – Dein explained the hilarious story.
Vieira had joined the club from AC Milan in 1996 and on his arrival was helped by members of the club to allow him to settle into his new lifestyle.
“Patrick came from Milan, and he couldn’t speak a word of English,” recalled Dein.
“We had to make sure he settled down well.
“We gave him a teacher, we gave him a nice house, we gave him a car, a mobile phone.”
Dein, who stepped down from his role in 2007, then went on to reveal that when he went to check up on Vieira’s progress, the Frenchman had done far better than expected and had learnt some information about Arsenal’s big rivals Tottenham Hotspur, courtesy of Ray Parlour.
https://twitter.com/_Grimanditweets/status/1458390871485845508
He said: After a couple of weeks, I went to the dressing room & asked Patrick, ‘Can you speak something in English?’
“He said ‘Yes Mr Dein’
“‘What can you say?’, he looked at me & said ‘Tottenham are sh*t!’
“Who taught you that?
“Ray Parlour.”
The story was unsurprisingly greeted with raptures of applause and only further cemented Vieira’s legacy as an Arsenal legend.
Many took to Twitter to express the love for the former Gunners captain, with one user saying: “who doesn’t love Vieira” followed by a crying emoji – although we assume that’s from laughter.
who doesn't love vieira 😭 https://t.co/11d0Wky07y
— Rey 🦋 (@alltimerey) November 9, 2021
Meanwhile another Arsenal supporter said: “We have the best legends” following by a crying with laughter emoji.
https://twitter.com/ayears3nal/status/1457812651233402893
Related links:
- Claudio Ranieri accuses Arsenal of possessing ‘a lack of respect’
- Claudio Ranieri and Mikel Arteta involved in argument after Arsenal’s win against Watford
- Father of autistic son shares heartwarming story of first Arsenal match
