Vieira, Flamini to fight for Arsenal centre stage

MATHIEU FLAMINI may be seen as a ready-made replacement for Patrick Vieira, but Arsene Wenger hopes the pair will battle it out for a place in the Arsenal midfield next season.

The France World Cup winner is staying silent on a move to Real Madrid and the Spaniards are reportedly ready to launch a renewed £18million bid later this week.

Vieira was not involved in the Amsterdam Tournament last weekend, a thigh injury keeping him out as Arsenal drew a blank in goalless draws against Ajax and River Plate.

Flamini, though, made his Gunners debut against Ajax on Sunday, and the 20-year-old former Marseille midfielder impressed Wenger.

"For a first game, he did quite well," said Wenger on the club's official website, www.arsenalfc.com.

"He is a good ball-winner who can put his foot in, but when he does get the ball he makes it very simple.

"It was an encouraging game for him especially as he had not played for seven weeks."

Wenger added: "He will fight for a place. We have Flamini, Gilberto, Edu and Vieira in this position. You need to have four there if you are going to have a long season and we hope we are going to have a long season."

However, whether Wenger gets his wish and sees Vieira lead the Gunners by example once again next season remains to be seen.

The rest of the squad, though, are keen for their skipper to stay at Highbury.

"It's his decision and we'll have to see," Dutch striker Dennis Bergkamp said.

"I respect him for that. We, as players, have been telling him to stay. No one wants to see him go."

It has not been an easy pre-season build-up for the Arsenal manager, with Thierry Henry and Sol Campbell also unable to take part in competitive action with Achilles problems.

England defender Campbell faces around six weeks out, but Wenger is hopeful Henry will feature for the champions' opener in the Premiership at Everton on August 14.