Mikel Arteta believes £34million signing Fabio Vieira will become a "very good" player for Arsenal after the World Cup in Qatar.
The Gunners signed Vieira, 22, from Porto in June, but he's started just one Premier League game this season. The midfielder has been restricted to starts in cup competitions and failed to impress in their 3-1 defeat to Brighton on Wednesday night.
Despite Vieira's slow start, Arteta is backing him to flourish in 2023. The Arsenal manager believes the player has struggled to show his best due to a foot injury, which kept him out until September and denied him the chance to get a pre-season under his belt.
Vieira is not expected to be part of Portugal's squad for the World Cup because he's yet to earn his first senior cap, despite being named as the Player of the Tournament at last year's U21 Euros. As such, the next six weeks will allow him to get up to speed.
"I think in front of goal he’s been a little bit unlucky because the last two games he could have scored a few goals," said Arteta after Wednesday night's game.
"Every new player needs time to adapt and to play. Obviously when he played against Brighton away from home and he was surrounded with players he’s been more familiar with, it’s a little bit easier.
"We have asked him to play in different positions as well because of the needs we have in the squad. I’m not worried at all."
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Arteta added: "He's missed a big part because he came and he was injured for two and a half months. So he's missed a whole pre-season, and I think that period now in the World Cup [break] is going to make him very good."
Arsenal need Vieira to be at his best in 2023 due to their lack of central midfielders. Thomas Partey has struggled with his fitness since joining the club in October 2020, while the long-serving Mohmed Elneny has only just returned from a hamstring injury.
Granit Xhaka is arguably playing his best football of his career and Arteta would miss the Switzerland international dearly if he was to get injured. The Spanish manager also has Albert Sambi Lokonga to call on, but the Belgian is still battling his critics.
Vieira will find out for sure whether he's in Portugal's squad for the World Cup on Thursday afternoon when Fernando Santos names his 26 players. Cedric Soares will also be keeping an eye on that announcement, although he isn't expected to make the squad.
Gabriel Jesus (Brazil), Gabriel Martinelli (Brazil), William Saliba (France), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Japan), Matt Turner (United States) and Xhaka (Switzerland) have already been called up by their respective countries for the tournament, which starts on November 20.
Partey is expected to be part of Ghana's squad for the World Cup, while Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White and Bukayo Saka will all be hoping to be included in England's touring party. Gareth Southgate will announce his squad on Thursday afternoon.
