Vieira crisis talk laughed off

Arsenal may yet offer Vieira a lucrative contract extension to ward off the interest from Madrid. The Spanish giants have a history of getting their man when they set their sights on a potential target.

Although Brazilian Emerson is first choice, Real will move for Vieira if they fail in that bid. Third parties have let the French international know of Real's intentions - much to Arsenal's fury.

But while they may not be able to match Real's £100,000-a-week wages, they are able to increase Vieira's salary from the £55,000 a week he currently earns.

Yesterday, at the compact stadium in the adjoining village, Vieira joined in his first full training session with the rest of the squad. The thunderstorms of Saturday night had abated and given way to a more pleasant sun and high cloud.

Business as usual and the only references to Real came in the form of the occasional jokes. No one at Arsenal feels that Vieira will be leaving. Real are reported to be offering £20million-plus which may be temptingfor a 28-year-old whose value will now only decrease. And while the player is not irreplaceable, he is highly influential.

They want him to stay and Vieira has certainly given no indication to his team-mates that he won't be leading them out against Everton at Goodison Park on the first day of the Premiership season.

He is training as usual, acting normally and taking the same verbal stick as anyone. But there have been other targets for jibes - notably Cole and Ljungberg. Cole's ice-cool nerves in the penalty shoot-out against Portugal in the quarter-final have been mentioned and Ljungberg's freakish conversion of his for Sweden against Holland at the same stage of the competition has been high on the list.

It was labelled perhaps the luckiest ever after it hit the bar, then Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar before going in. The Vieira link with Real has been in the same bracket.

Those who have put their trust in rumour over the last week could be forgiven for thinking that Arsenal are in meltdown, with Vieira going and the club primed for head-to-head crisis talks with manager Arsene Wenger.

Campbell, too, is in a contract talks and, judging from reports emanating from South America where Edu has enjoyed a Copa America triumph with Brazil, the midfielder wants to fulfil a childhood ambition of playing at Barcelona.

But such talk is regarded as fanciful in Austria where the bond among the players is said to be "as strong, if not stronger, then ever" by one player.

"Why would Patrick go to a club where he would be the workhorse for Figo and Zidane when he can be at a club where he is captain of the team and idolised by the fans?" he continued. "Champions League? Real have not done too well in the last two years, have they?

"As for a one-to-one with the manager, that could be true. But it is also true for every player out here. The boss speaks to all of us individually in pre-season. He outlines what he expects from them.

"Sol will be staying, we are all certain of that. Edu? He loves it here. If anyone had been with us the last three days and not seen any of the papers back in England and what they were saying, you wouldn't have thought there was even a hint of a problem."

Wenger confirmed at the weekend that Real have yet to make a formal offer for Vieira, although privately the Highbury board acknowledge that if the player is determined to leave, they will be fighting a losing battle to keep him. All that the remaining two years of his contract would guarantee is a healthy transfer fee.

But, perhaps crucially, Vieira has yet to ask for a move. It would allay the fears of the fans if he stated publicly that he would be staying but the vibes within the Arsenal squad is that the man known as Le Long will be at Highbury in the long term and that he will spurn the overtures from Real.

Standard bearer for Wenger's brave new Arsenal - the squad is the youngest since he took over following the departures of Martin Keown, Ray Parlour and Sylvain Wiltord - or the water carrier for the Galacticos? The choice is his.