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Patrick Vieira had been confirmed as the new manager for New York City FC (NYCFC) on Monday, but his former France and Arsenal FC teammate Thiery Henry believes that the former Gunners captain should have picked another team to manage.
Henry had a stint with NYCFC’s rivals New York Red Bulls for a while after moving on from Arsenal FC and FC Barcelona. Vieira would be managing NY Red Bulls’ cross-town rivals NYCFC.
“He went to the wrong team. I had hoped he would support Red Bulls and not NYCFC,” Henry said to Sport360 (via ESPN). “But at the end of the day, I hope he has a good time there, a good career, and then comes back to Europe with a lot of experience.
NYCFC played their debut season last year, but finished a disappointing eighth in the Eastern Conference, in spite of signing some of the biggest names from European football, with the likes of David Villa, Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard joining them.
Is Vieira in Manchester City’s long term managerial plans?
NYCFC is owned by Yankees Global Enterprise and City Football Group (that also owns Manchester City). He was the head of Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad before accepting the managerial role at NYCFC.
It is highly possible that the City Football Group is using NYCFC as a bit of a B-team to develop younger talents (the manager in this case). If Vieira does indeed turn things around and does well at the New York club, we might just see him back in the Premier League, just as Henry has said.