Medical insider issues Fabio Vieira ‘bulking up’ claim as ‘explosive’ Arsenal details emerge
Arsenal are right to resist the urge to tell Fabio Vieira to bulk up as he is better suited to being a nimble and “explosive” player.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis.
Vieira, 22, is yet to make his first senior appearance for the Gunners after he picked up a foot injury on international duty with Portugal ahead of his move from Porto.
But the slightly-built midfielder had his first run-out in the under-21 side’s 2-1 win over Swansea City on Wednesday (17 August).
The Evening Standard reported on Tuesday (16 August) that Arsenal do not want Vieira to bulk up as they like the idea of having a more agile presence in midfield.
Dinnery insists that Arteta’s backroom staff are right to keep Vieira physically streamlined.
“The worry when you’re suffering from a long-term injury is that a lot of the focus will be on getting that size and bulking up,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“But at Arsenal, they have those enforcer characters in Partey and Xhaka. Vieira has come in with a different skill set. He is nimble, he can break the lines, he is comfortable bringing the ball forward.
“That fits in more with Arteta’s philosophies and that’s what the recruitment will have centred around. If you change that composition, what you may gain in certain areas, you lose in others. They don’t need to do that.
“Arteta likes to play fast, flowing football. They already have the enforcers as the mainstays of the defensive lines. They are also now recruiting exciting, explosive players around them.
“Vieira is going to be the sort of player that sits in between the two. You want him to play like the player you identified in recruitment, so it doesn’t make sense to bulk up.
“They always say that when you pick up a long-term injury, it is a chance to address some imbalances. In the gym, you may look to bulk up because you don’t get the opportunity to do that throughout the rest of the season.
“But once he gets some minutes, I don’t think this issue will be anything to be concerned about.”
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