The arrival of a certain Patrick Vieira caused confusion at Highbury 17 years ago today. Firstly, who had signed him? Manager Bruce Rioch was in the process of his losing his job and rumours were rife that former Monaco head coach Arsene Wenger was in line to replace the former Scotland international.
The second thing that troubled some Arsenal supporters was who indeed is Vieira? The 20-year-old had joined for £3.5m from AC Milan, but he had spent most of his time at the San Siro within the reserve side.
However, standing at 6'4", he immediately set about showing Milan what they would be missing. The 1996-97 campaign saw him make 31 appearances, with some journalists comparing the way that the French midfielder played to ex-Gunner Paul Davis.
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It was during the next campaign where Vieira really rose to prominence, though, forming a formidable partnership in the Arsenal engine room alongside Emmanuel Petit, who had joined in the summer of 1997 from Monaco.
The pair helped to guide Arsenal to a Premier League and FA Cup double, with Vieira scoring one of the goals of the season against title rivals Manchester United.
It was not long after that rumours started to surface regarding Vieira's happiness, or lack thereof, in North London. Amid reports that United and Real Madrid were keen to sign him, he said this of the departure to Barcelona of teammates Petit and Marc Overmars: "Of course it was good business but it was a big disappointment for me. If we still had the same team now and put Overmars and Petit in it, we would be even better and stronger. It's not that I miss Petit – the team needs him."
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Vieira would stay, though, and go on to be appointed the club captain following the retirement of Tony Adams in 2002.
Before his time with the Gunners eventually concluded when he joined Juventus in 2005, Vieira had three Premier League titles and four FA Cup medals to show for his nine-year stint in England.
A year after joining the Old Lady he switched to Inter Milan, where he would win four Serie A titles, before bringing the curtain down on his career after a season-and-a-half at Manchester City, where he remains part of the club's backroom team.
