Vieira vows to stick with Arsenal

Captain Patrick Vieira underlined his long-term commitment to Arsenal by vowing to see the club into their new Ashburton Grove stadium in 2006.

Arsenal are scheduled to leave Highbury for the 60,000-capacity stadium just a mile away in North London in less than two years’ time.

And Vieira, who visited the site this week, insists that he is determined to be there when the Gunners play the opening game of the 2006-07 season.

Given that he was on the verge of leaving for Real Madrid this summer, only to have a late change of heart that saw him stay at Highbury, that is welcome proof for the Arsenal board of his long-term commitment.

“I am really impressed with how well the stadium is progressing. It has really started to take shape and you can start to visualise what it’s going to be like,” he told the club’s website, www.arsenal.com .

“The views are going to be fantastic from all over the stadium and I’m looking forward to being a part of this exciting time in the club’s history.”

The stadium move is seen by manager Arsene Wenger as the best way to secure the club’s long-term future, given that they will be able to raise significantly more income from the larger capacity.

Perhaps most importantly of all for the club’s revenue streams, there will be 150 executive boxes, compared to just 54 at Highbury, as well as a rise in corporate seats from 200 to 7,000.

Indeed, sales of the executive boxes, which hold between 10 and 15 people and will be priced from £65,000 to £150,000 per season, are already said to be going well.

Arsenal are also looking into naming rights for the new stadium, which could raise an additional several million pounds a year, just as clubs such as Bolton and Middlesbrough have done before them, albeit for a smaller fee.

Managing director Keith Edelman recently revealed: “We’ve decided to go down this route and we hope to reach some form of agreement by the end of this year. We would hope to raise a substantial amount of money this way.”

Arsenal will seek the right match for their brand image – they will not consider tobacco companies, for example – but they have been encouraged by the interest shown amid so much success on the pitch.

After all, Wenger’s side aim to stretch their unbeaten Premiership run to 47 matches at Manchester City on Saturday, with Sol Campbell possibly back in the squad after his return from injury in the reserves on Monday night.

Wenger, who has another fitness concern over Gilberto Silva, said: “It is a possibility, although at the moment I want to see how Sol reacts in training every day.

“The decision will depend on whether I feel he is needed or not and whether I feel he is capable of competing physically at the top level.”

Wenger is determined not to rush Campbell’s return, just as he is careful with the rehabilitation of Phillipe Senderos, who has been plagued by injury ever since arriving at Highbury 16 months ago.

The Swiss Under-21 international, who suffered from a back inflammation and a broken foot last season, played alongside Campbell in the reserves against Coventry this week.

Wenger nevertheless insisted: “Senderos needs to play for three months without thinking about anything else. He has not played for a year.

“When he has absorbed that first three months, we can speak again. Already this season, you can see he is getting better and better. He is physically much stronger but he still needs games.”