Patrick Vieira

The 34-year-old made the switch from Inter Milan to Eastlands during last season’s January transfer window but, with such a talented squad around him, has failed to secure regular first-team football.

The former Arsenal star has made just one appearance so far this term and scored the equaliser as City fought back to earn a 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rover on September 11.

Despite a lack of playing time, the former France international is content with the way he is playing and hopes to force his way into the thoughts of City boss Roberto Mancini.

“I have been happy with my form since the start of season,” he said. “It is difficult when you play one game every month. I need to work harder than everyone else to show the manager can count on me.

“I just want to enjoy myself. I am involved in a fantastic challenge with this club and really want to be part of it.”

City welcome Italian giants Juventus to Eastlands on Thursday night in the Europa League, with the Serie A side currently struggling domestically.

The Old Lady have garnered just seven points from their first five games and no longer have the air if invincibility that they had under Marcello Lippi.

The Turin side only managed a draw with Lech Poznan in their opening Europa league match but Vieira believes his old team will join his present employers in the later stages of Europe’s second tier competition (Juve 7/4 to win Group A).

“I think they are going through a difficult period,” he added. “Maybe it is not the best Juventus side in the last few years but they are still a really competitive team.

“It will be difficult for us to find the space to play but we have players who can give them problems as well. Our strength is the squad. We can be competitive in every competition we are involved in.”

Whether Vieira gets the nod on Thursday night is open to question but defender Micah Richards could return to the side after recovering from the hamstring injury that ruled him out of last Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Chelsea.

Shaun Wright-Phillips is rated as doubtful with a knee problem while left-backs Wayne Bridge and Aleksandar Kolarov are definitely out.

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The 1998 World Cup winner, capped 107 times in an outstanding career, was left off coach Raymond Domenech’s provisional 30-man squad for South Africa.

He was one of three high-profile omissions from the squad, along with Arsenal’s Sami Nasri and Karim Benzema of Real Madrid.

And while he took the decision on the chin, he was not happy about the manner in which it was conducted.

“His (Domenech) choice I do accept,” said Vieira, who won the Euro 2000 title with France and played in the final four years ago which Les Bleus lost to Italy.

“The only problem is with regard to our personal relations. I was expecting more openness, more contact on his behalf.
“With Raymond I enjoyed healthy relations. But to learn of my non-selection like that, well that is lacking intact, class. It saddens me.

“There are coaches who know how to handle these things, and others who don’t.”

Vieira was referring to the fact that Domenech had not telephoned him to inform him of his decision, leaving the player to find out live on TV.

“I have not had him on the phone for the past six months,” said Vieira. “I always had good relations with him even when he was in difficulties. What I really would have appreciated, given the number of caps I won for my country, was that he had called me and said ‘Listen, I believe that you no longer have the necessary qualities for international football.

“I would have understood and accepted that, though I still believe that I am capable of playing at that level.”

Vieira, who moved from Inter Milan to Manchester City in the January transfer window and has played 14 times for the Premier League club, accepts that his international career is now over. But he insists he will continue playing at the top level in his club career.

“It is over. I will not have another chance to play in a big tournament,” said Vieira.
“For me, the French chapter is finished. That does not mean it erases all the great years I spent donning the blue shirt of France.

“On the club side, no is the answer to whether I will retire from that as well. I will, for sure, be carrying on at club level.”

Vieira’s omission from the squad leaves Thierry Henry as the sole survivor of France’s 1998 triumph over Brazil.

Benzema has had an inconsistent season with Madrid, though a pole taken shortly after the squad decision was announced suggested that more fans were upset with him being left out than Vieira’s axing.

Nasri’s Arsenal teammates Gael Clichy, William Gallas, Abou Diaby and Bacary Sagna are included.

Three members of Marseille’s Ligue 1-winning squad – goalkeeper Steve Mandanda and forward Hatem Ben Arfa and Mathieu Valbuena – are named, as are two Chelsea stars, Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda.

France (evens to qualify from Group A) will play in Group A of the tournament, alongside hosts South Africa (6/1), Mexico (3/1) and Uruguay (7/2), who will be their opponents in their first game in Cape Town on June 11.

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