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How Arsenal could line up next season with Fabio Vieira, Gabriel Jesus

Sports Mole takes a look at how Arsenal could line up next season with Fabio Vieira and Gabriel Jesus in the first XI.

Arsenal are seemingly close to sealing two marquee signings for the summer window, and a bolt from the Portuguese blue emerged on Thursday afternoon.

The Gunners are said to have agreed a deal to bring Porto midfielder Fabio Vieira to the club for an initial €35m (£29.9m), and the 22-year-old is poised to sign a five-year deal in North London.

Meanwhile, Arsenal are reportedly making significant progress in their efforts to sign Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus, with the Brazilian set to spearhead the attack following Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette's departures.

Here, Sports Mole takes a look at how Arsenal could line up next season with Vieira and Jesus in the first XI.


ARS XI w/VIE, JES

Mikel Arteta will be blessed with the best kind of creative dilemma following Vieira's arrival in North London, and the Portugal Under-21 international has proven adept in many a position during his time in his homeland.

Comfortable as a number eight, left-winger or second striker, Vieira making the starting XI could see Arteta shift to the 4-3-3 he is supposedly pining for in North London, and the left-footed youngster would seemingly be paired with Martin Odegaard in that instance.

It remains to be seen if Vieira's signing could impact Arsenal's pursuit of Youri Tielemans, who would only add to the midfield competition, but Vieira and Odegaard should both feature ahead of lone number six Thomas Partey from the first whistle.

Emile Smith Rowe, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Granit Xhaka could therefore be forced to accept bench roles, especially after the former lost his left-wing spot to Gabriel Martinelli amid a difficult second half of the season.

Martinelli would be sure to support compatriot Gabriel Jesus as Bukayo Saka occupies the right-wing spot, although fellow Selecao starlet Marquinhos will hope for opportunities to impress in pre-season.

Having Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu back fully fit would be a major early-season boost for Arteta, who also has William Saliba ready to prove himself over the summer months.

Ben White and Gabriel Magalhaes will both aim to keep Saliba out of the team for the time being, but a bit of healthy competition and added depth for European competitions can only be a good thing.


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Ben Knapton
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