Vieira: Arsenal will survive
10 Jul 2007 - 16:41:21
Former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira believes the club will cope with the loss of Thierry Henry to Barcelona.
Vieira, who left the Gunners for Juventus two years ago and has since moved on to Internazionale, claims the absence of his France international team-mate is a huge blow for manager Arsene Wenger.
But Vieira believes Wenger is the right man to find a suitable replacement for the club's all-time record goalscorer, following his £16million departure to Spain.
"Thierry Henry is a huge player and it is a big blow for the club to lose him, certainly," he told Feel Football.
"I know how it feels to leave Arsenal, and it is hard. But this has happened before at Arsenal - losing big players through the years - and the club always comes back.
"When I left Arsenal I knew they had good quality players in midfield to come in - they had Cesc Fabregas to replace me.
"They have good quality players up front too, with (Robin) van Persie, who has been injured but is really good, and (Emmanuel) Adebayor. They have the quality to do well, but it will not be easy.
"You have to remember, when Thierry came in he had to replace Ian Wright, which was not an easy thing to do.
"He achieved that and broke all the records, so the person who will take over from Thierry will be in the same position. They will need to do the same thing he did.
"It is important to know that nobody is bigger than the club itself and I hope Arsenal will keep progressing.
"The club can still progress and they are in a good position. They have a new stadium and all big clubs have a big stadium, so now they need to get the results to be at the very top."
