Pires denies Vieira remark

Patrick Vieira's Arsenal future became shrouded in more uncertainty yesterday when Robert Pires denied revealing his team-mate had decided to join Real Madrid.

Pires insisted he had no knowledge of Vieira's future plans and, in a statement issued through Arsenal, denied earlier quotes attributed to him and reported by the author of his autobiography, Xavier Rivoire.

Pires said: "I have never said a word about Patrick's situation - I have too much respect for him to give an opinion.

"How could I wish Patrick good luck in Madrid when I saw him at the training ground this morning? As far as I know Patrick hasn't signed for Real Madrid. I really hope, as do all my team-mates, that he stays at Arsenal."

Pires was quoted on Sunday as claiming Vieira "has made a choice and we respect that. We can all understand why he's decided to go to La Liga."

Neither Arsenal nor Vieira's agent Steve Kutner were making further comment yesterday on Vieira's decision, which manager Arsene Wenger has urged him to make before the start of the new Premiership season.

The Highbury club may still hold out for rather more than Real are prepared to offer, while Vieira has yet to agree personal terms in Spain.

With three weeks of the transfer window still to run, no official announcement is expected until after the first leg of Real's Champions League qualifying round tie against Wisla Krakow this week.

However, Arsenal appear to have already begun the search for midfield reinforcements, with West Ham expecting an official bid for Michael Carrick.

Again, the fee may prove to be the stumbling block with West Ham believed to be unwilling to part with Carrick for less than £3.5 million. Wenger has also been linked with a move for Portugal star Maniche, though the manager has denied the rumours.

Meanwhile, the Premier League was warned yesterday it cannot exploit the Sven-Goran Eriksson affair to increase its power within the Football Association and gain greater control of FA finances, as fears increase among amateur representatives that they may be sidelined by the latest debate over restructuring.

An amateur member of the FA board, who did not wish to be named, said: "It is shaping up into a battle between the amateur game and the professional game. The FA's image has been tarnished but the truth is that an awful lot of people give up their time for free to work for the FA and they are not responsible for any of the recent problems. There is nothing wrong with amateurs being involved with the FA."

An emergency meeting of the FA board will today discuss the review announced last week of the organisation's structure and management procedures amid the fallout from the former secretary Faria Alam's relationships with Eriksson and the now-resigned chief executive Mark Palios.

Amateur representatives on the FA board and FA council are increasingly concerned the professional game wants to take over the running of the England team and the FA Cup, the FA's two largest revenue earners.

Their professional counterparts are calling for a root-and-branch reform of the FA, claiming its current committee structure is too bureaucratic and not suitable for the needs of the modern game.