Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira, who is the current head-coach of New York City FC, harbours ambitions of managing Manchester City in the future.
Legendary midfielder Patrick Vieira is back in England for the annual get-together of City Football Group staff after guiding NYCFC to the MLS play-offs in his debut season as a professional manager. It was a vast improvement for the club from their previous season, when they finished 17th.
Patrick Vieira’s journey as a coach began largely thanks to Manchester City, after the club offered the Frenchman an opportunity to work behind the scenes after his retirement in 2011.
After learning the tricks and trades of the profession, Vieira was announced as the head-coach of Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad (U21s) set-up in 2013, with whom he won the Premier League International Cup in 2015 and reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Youth League, an U19 tournament, in 2013/14 and 2014/15.
After spending three years with the youth team, Vieira received his first break in senior club management in 2016, being named as the new manager of new franchise NYCFC, owned by the City Football Group.
As such, the former Arsenal captain has a special place in his heart for the Manchester-based club. In an interview with the Daily Mail, the Frenchman spoke on various topics including life in New York, his learning and his plans for the future.
On being asked if sees himself as manager of Man City in the future, Vieira replied, “This is the fairytale story, I am really pleased that people in this club think one day I can manage here. That makes me proud. I am happy to be part of the group because I love the people. They have given me the opportunity to do something I wasn’t sure I was capable of doing.”
However, the World-Cup winning player added that he is not looking too far ahead and that if an opportunity arises elsewhere away from the club in near future, he would sit with the City hierarchy and talk about it.
