Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has revealed he beat Ajax to clinch Patrick Vieira's signature from AC Milan.
Writing in the Guardian, Wenger says: "Patrick was in negotiations with Ajax and I called him from Japan to tell him to go and sign for Arsenal, and that's how the transfer was done. It was a fairly straightforward one because the fee had been fixed by Milan at around $5m, £3.5m at the time, irrespective of who the buyer was.
"I told David Dein he should not hesitate over the signing because if he wanted Vieira to come to the club he had to act quickly, otherwise he would lose him.
"I also convinced his agents at the time, although they were happy for him to go to Arsenal rather than Ajax anyway. They had had a financial problem in Holland because the Dutch had flinched a bit when it had come to Patrick's salary. At Arsenal, on the other hand, they had immediately got everything they asked for.
"I joined the Gunners on October 1 1996. Patrick had arrived a few months before, in July. He had suffered a lot at the beginning. Despite that I immediately picked him; I never had the slightest doubt.
"To win the ball from Patrick didn't take one man, it didn't take two, it took at least three men around him. And even those three couldn't be sure of winning the ball. He was huge for me, immediately."
Writing in the Guardian, Wenger says: "Patrick was in negotiations with Ajax and I called him from Japan to tell him to go and sign for Arsenal, and that's how the transfer was done. It was a fairly straightforward one because the fee had been fixed by Milan at around $5m, £3.5m at the time, irrespective of who the buyer was.
"I told David Dein he should not hesitate over the signing because if he wanted Vieira to come to the club he had to act quickly, otherwise he would lose him.
"I also convinced his agents at the time, although they were happy for him to go to Arsenal rather than Ajax anyway. They had had a financial problem in Holland because the Dutch had flinched a bit when it had come to Patrick's salary. At Arsenal, on the other hand, they had immediately got everything they asked for.
"I joined the Gunners on October 1 1996. Patrick had arrived a few months before, in July. He had suffered a lot at the beginning. Despite that I immediately picked him; I never had the slightest doubt.
"To win the ball from Patrick didn't take one man, it didn't take two, it took at least three men around him. And even those three couldn't be sure of winning the ball. He was huge for me, immediately."
