Leeds United are in the latter stages of their manager search this summer and now a new update has emerged from a reliable source about a potential late contender.
What's the latest on Leeds' interest in Patrick Vieira?
According to The Athletic's Leeds reporter Phil Hay, Patrick Vieira is the latest to be considered for the highly-anticipated managerial role at Elland Road.
As per an article written for the publication, Hay claims that the former Crystal Palace manager is on the radar and was, in fact, interested in taking over at Leeds when Jesse Marsch was sacked in February.
What is Patrick Vieira's manager style?
With every day passing the pressure will be mounting on the 49ers and the club's hierarchy to make a decision on their next appointment to lead the squad in their Championship campaign next season.
The fixture lists will be released tomorrow for the EFL and players remaining will return for pre-season in just a few weeks, so employing a manager who can get to work with planning ahead of the challenging 46-game campaign and start to develop a relationship with the team as soon as possible will be vital.
Vieira's latest inclusion in the considerations for the important appointment could be a great opportunity for Leeds to bring in a manager who has a keen eye for developing and nurturing young talent, something that the West Yorkshire based squad has plenty of.
Joe Gelhardt, Cody Drameh, Charlie Cresswell, Wilfried Gnonto, Crysencio Summerville and Luis Sinisterra are just some of the incredible young talent Leeds boast who are all under the age of 23, demonstrating an opportunity for the right manager to promote a youth revolution at Elland Road next season.
Whilst the Arsenal legend struggled in the final few months of his most recent job at Selhurst Park, Vieira is renowned for building the next generation of the Crystal Palace team with Michael Olise, Marc Guehi and Odsonne Edouard all acquired by the 46-year-old in his first transfer window and all of these players have gone on to thrive and become key players.
Indeed, Guehi has become a regular in the England squad and has seen his game improve so much that he is now valued at a huge £50m. Olise, meanwhile, fired home two goals and registered 11 assists last term.
Not only that, the attacking-minded manager – who has commonly deployed a 4-3-3 formation over his career on the touchline so far – could significantly improve their presence in front of goal with his possession-based philosophy that earned him 22 victories and 24 draws over his 74 games in charge of Palace. That would surely be music to the ears of the likes of Gnonto and Summerville.
As a result, the appointment of Vieira – hailed a "natural-born winner" by Ian Wright – would be a statement of the club's intent to build a squad for the future at Elland Road, instead of just adopting the short-sighted view of gaining instant promotion back to the Premier League next season.