'Not the case' - Fabrizio Romano issues update on Arsenal star's future amid loan exit

The Portuguese star joined the Gunners from porto back in 2022 for around £30million, but he has only made 33 league appearances for the club to-date, never nailing down a starting spot. Now 24 years of age, Vieira is entering a critical time if he wants to be an Arsenal player in the long-term, and many fans have been left wondering whether he has a future at the club beyond this season.

Naturally, Vieira will have the chance to impress at Porto as he looks to convince Mikel Arteta of his quality, but it’s not easy for loan exitees to battle their way back into contention, given they spend a season training and playing elsewhere. Crucially, though, Arsenal are not ready to make a decision on Vieira, refusing to include an option to buy in the loan deal for that reson,

“Yeah, there are many questions on this one because we had many rumours on Fabio Vieira,” Fabrizio Romano told the Here We Go Podcast. “After he joined Porto on loan from Arsenal, many people starting saying ‘okay, it’s over for Fabio Vieira at Arsenal’. What I’m told is that this is not the case. Arsenal only wanted to do a straight loan with no buy option included, because they want to assess the situation of Fabio Vieira again in one year.”