ROBERTO MANCINI is trying to bring one of the Premier League’s greatest ever players back to England after putting in place a possible deal for Patrick Vieira.

The former Arsenal captain, whose clashes with Roy Keane came to symbolise the London club’s rivalry with Manchester United, is meeting Internazionale in the next few days to determine whether he is still wanted at San Siro after losing his place as a first-team fixture since Jose Mourinho took over from Mancini.

The emphasis at City is to bring in new defenders, with Vieira’s 33-year-old team-mate Ivan Cordoba among the targets, but Mancini has also identified a player who represented Arsenal more than 400 times before moving to Juventus four and a half years ago.

Mancini would not be drawn on how far the deal had gone yesterday other than to say Vieira was a “good player”.

GuardianService