Late Real Madrid push for Arsenal's Vieira

Real Madrid have made a late bid to trump Juventus for Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira.
 
The News of the World says Real held secret talks with Gunners staff in Madrid this week - just before Juve bigwigs jetted into London to meet Highbury vice-chairman David Dein.

Vieira is due to hold crunch talks with Gunners manager Arsene Wenger today to decide his future, knowing Arsenal would accept a fee of around £15m.

Real president Florentino Perez confirmed they tried for Vieira last year: "Arsenal didn't want to sell. So I negotiated with David Dein personally. One month, two months and at the end the deal was done."

It seemed the end of a three-year saga but Vieira, who has been at Highbury since 1996, pulled out after being asked for a medical report on a knee injury.