Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes Patrick Vieira - rather than Thierry Henry - was his best ever signing for the Gunners. Henry is the Gunners' all-time record goalscorer, bagging more than 200 goals for the club after being signed by Wenger from Juventus. He was a two-time Premier League champion with the London club, but the first of their three top-flight titles under Wenger came before Henry's 1999 arrival.
Wenger's first two signings, Vieira and Remi Garde, were confirmed before the manager's own arrival was official. However, it became clear their moves would have been impossible without their compatriot being Arsenal-bound. Arsenal finished third in Wenger's debut season, with a young Nicolas Anelka also joining the club, and then won the double after adding the likes of Emmanuel Petit and Dutch winger Marc Overmars in 1997. Wenger made a number of key additions in the years that followed, but looked back fondly on the early addition of Vieira.
"It depends," Wenger told Sir Mo Farah when asked by the Olympian and Arsenal fan about his best piece of business. "If you look at it financially you could say many, many, many. Maybe the credibility I got first was for the first player I brought in which was Patrick Vieira.
"People questioned ‘why do they employ Wenger?’ and after of course we have the following with Petit, Henry, Overmars. [Dennis] Bergkamp was already there, Anelka. You have so many players, you have Kolo [Toure], Lauren. But I think just the first players you bring in you are always judged on.
