Patrick Vieira back on familiar ground at Crystal Palace

Patrick Vieira is coming home!

The former French international, appointed coach of Crystal Palace on Sunday, will return to the Premier League and try to relaunch his coaching career, where he has made a name and a record as a player.

"

I am really looking forward to returning to the Premier League and leading this great club to start a new chapter together,

" said Vieira in the press release from his new club.

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The 1998 world champion and 2000 European champion, selected 107 times with the Blues between 1997 and 2009, signed a three-year contract with the "

Eagles

", one of the seven London clubs in the English elite.

Without a club since his dismissal in Nice in December, the 45-year-old technician succeeds Roy Hodgson, who decided in May to leave the south London club, at 73, after four years in office.

Under the Englishman's leadership, Crystal Palace has moved into the top flight, never flirting with relegation, and finished last season in 14th place in the Championship.

Galaxy City

The Frenchman is back in a league that he knows well, in a solid club: "

The club has a fantastic foundation after several years in the Premier League and I hope to be able to further improve it

", recognized Vieira.

Trained in Cannes, "

Pat

" left France at the age of 19 to join AC Milan (1995-96), a brief step before his long stay at Arsenal (1996-2010) where he became one of the best. circles around the world, and the idol of the London club of which he was captain. Phenomenal physique and technique far above average, Vieira had found in the Premier League the ideal field of expression and won with the “

Gunners

” three English league titles (1998, 2002, 2004) and four editions of the England Cup.

It was also in England that he began his coaching career, as head of development for Manchester City, then in charge of the reserve team of the club where he had played a last season, in 2010-11, after two last passages by Italy (Juventus Turin from 2005 to 2006, then Inter Milan from 2006 to 2010).

Vieira then made his big debut in 2016 as a head coach at New York City FC, one of Galaxy City's satellite clubs, in the North American Championship (MLS).

Reunion on October 16

He returned to France in 2018 to take over the management of OGC Nice, a 30-month experience with a mixed record, particularly in the management of its workforce and for its tactical choices, despite good 7th and 5th places in Ligue 1.

If his aura in England is still intact, Vieira is playing big at Crystal Palace who was very close to signing the Swiss Lucien Favre, before the former coach of Dortmund and Nice decided to back down.

Success as a player does not offer any guarantee when you put on the coach's costume: Vieira knows it well, having met as many game giants who have become great coaches (Deschamps, Zidane) as others for whom the career of technician is more tumultuous (Henry, Makélélé).

First mission for the new coach of the "

Eagles

": to rebuild a workforce which is limited for the moment to 17 players under contract, including the Ivorian Wilfried Zaha and the Belgian Christian Benteke.

The Dakar native doesn't have much time to prepare: the 2021-21 season will begin on August 14 with a short trip to Chelsea, winner of the last Champions League. He will have to wait a few weeks, on October 16, to find Arsenal. A club which has lost its standing since the Vieira-Henry era and which has already known three coaches since the departure of Arsène Wenger in 2018. Crystal Palace, the first step towards a real return home for Vieira?