Patrick Vieira names new Manchester City star as future Etihad Stadium captain | OneFootball

Legendary Premier League midfielder and World Cup winner Patrick Vieira has provided his take on Marc Guehi’s captaincy potential at Manchester City. 

City’s £20 million signing of Guehi has levelled up Pep Guardiola’s defensive options enormously having struggled to deal with injuries to Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol, with the Premier League side earning victory over Wolves on the centre-back’s debut for the club. 

Vieira, who made over 450 Premier League appearances with Arsenal and City, boasting three English top-flight titles and a World Cup with France, signed Guehi as Crystal Palace manager in 2021 and described the defender as a “dream for any manager” to the club website. 

While at Selhurst Park, Marc Guehi won the Community Shield and led Crystal Palace to their first-ever major trophy after beating Manchester City in last season’s FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium. 

Vieira has since revealed what he saw in Guehi at such a young age to convince Palace to spend £18 million on him, becoming the club’s third most expensive signing of all-time behind Christian Benteke and Mamadou Sakho. 

In an interview with Manchester City’s official club website, the former France international said, “It was his leadership. He’s not really vocal, but he has this calmness about him that gives belief and confidence and calmness to players around him. 

“And he’s really composed, doesn’t show his emotions, he really controls himself, and I think this is a really good quality for a player at that level. I also think when you sign players nowadays, you’re looking at availability. And Marc’s availability was fantastic.

“I think he’s a player who doesn’t get injured because he’s a real professional and looks after himself really well. He’s coming hours before training, and he’s leaving later after training, and he’s a real professional.”

Marc Guehi was captain of Crystal Palace before his arrival in Manchester and will undoubtedly join Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Rodri and Erling Haaland in the club’s leadership group when he is firmly settled. 

In fact, the centre-back could one day become the skipper given he possesses the quality and experience to be a leader in a team full of stars. Vieira believes that the armband shouldn’t make a difference to how he takes responsibility on the pitch however. 

“What will be important is to have the respect from the other players and to have this kind of respect, you need to conduct yourself well, and this is what he does,” he said.

“And he will win all the players over around him because of who he is as a person. He has the quality to be a leader, to be a captain, but the future will dictate that, but it is a really good match.

“I would say for Manchester City, regarding the profile of players that they’re looking for and Marc because of who he is as a person and what is his ambition, I think that will match really, really well.”