Sports Nicknames - Paddy

Patrick Vieira is a former French midfielder and current manager of the Premier League Club Crystal Palace, who was considered among the greatest players of his generation.



Over a long career, Vieira played for different teams, under varying circumstances, and against distinct competitors but always left his impression on the basis of his skill, style, control, and performances.


Playing Style:

Vieira's style was his hallmark, as he boasted aggressive gameplay with a powerful physique and a peculiar tenacity that so very defined him. He was a competent tackler and visionary midfielder whose wonderful distribution was a great advantage for his team. His stamina, athletic ability, and aggressive nature made him a strong presence on the pitch. This was the reason why Times Ranked him among the 50 hardest footballers to play the game.


Humble Beginnings:

He started his career in 1994 with Cannes but soon moved to AC Milan on the basis of his prominent performances on the pitch. Milan won the Serie A title that year. And this was just the beginning of the trophy hunt for the Young Patrick Vieira.


Life-changing Move to Arsenal

Soon he began to attract global attention and drew the interest of the English Football Club Arsenal, which signed him in 1996 for a fee of 3.5 Million Pounds.

Between 1996 and 2005, he played for Arsenal in 279 Matches. During the period, Arsenal won three Premier League titles, Four FA Cup Titles, and Three FA Community Shield Titles. This was the golden period in his career. He had been instrumental to Arsenal's rise. He was the Player of the season in the title-winning Premier League Campaign of 2000-01. In the same year, he also became the French Player of the year. The 2003-04 Premier League Title was won by Arsenal while remaining unbeaten throughout the year in the 38 league games. This was the first time that a team had achieved this feat of winning the Premier League title without losing a single game. He also captained the club between 2002 and 2005. He was owned and adored by the fans. And those fans gave him his nickname of "Paddy". While nicknames are always special, those given by the fans certainly mean a lot more!


Moving Back to Serie A:

In 2005, he moved to Juventus for a season before returning to Serie A with Inter Milan in 2006. Here again, he enjoyed a successful stint till 2010, during which Milan won four consecutive Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia title, and two Supercoppa Italiana titles.

In February 2010, he once again returned to English Football with Manchester City. During his brief stint with the Club, he got his hands on the FA Cup title. In July 2011, he retired from professional football and started his administrative career.


International Career:

On an international level, he registered 107 appearances for France and captained his national side for a brief period. He was a key member of France's World Cup-winning team of 1998. He also won the UEFA Euro Cup 2000 and FIFA confederations Cup 2001 with France. There was nothing that he didn't achieve during his career as he signed off with an illustrious trophy cabinet.

He was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2014 and into the Premier League Hall of Fame in 2022.


Current Role:

At the time of this writing, he is the manager of the Premier League side Crystal Palace. Will he add more trophies to his cabinet as a manager? Only time will tell.

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