Arsenal must dig deep to keep Hleb and co, says Vieira

Patrick Vieira has warned Arsène Wenger that he risks losing Cesc Fábregas if he cannot hold his Arsenal squad together over the summer. Fábregas, the team's key performer, has seen Mathieu Flamini depart for Milan on a Bosman free transfer and knows Alexander Hleb, his other close friend at the club, wants to leave, too.

Vieira, however, believes it is imperative for Arsenal that Hleb is persuaded to stay. "Seeing Flamini leave and I don't know what's going on with Hleb ... when players see other players leave like that then of course Cesc and all the other players will ask what Arsenal want to do.

"If Arsenal want to compete with Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool, then they have to keep their best players and if the best players start to leave, then people will question what Arsenal want to do in the future. Flamini is a big loss. If they carry on losing players like that then it will be a worrying time."

Flamini turned down Arsenal's offer of £55,000 a week to sign a £65,000-a-week contract at Milan while Hleb has been promised a huge wage increase by Inter. Vieira fears that Wenger's relative prudence could lead to other young players being tempted away and he believes that the club must dig deeper.

"When young players like Flamini are allowed to run through to the end of their contracts, it means the offer from Arsenal wasn't the best," said Vieira. "That's maybe why he decided to leave and you have to respect his decision.

"I think all the younger players at Arsenal deserve a good contract and of course if Arsenal mean to keep them, then they should offer them a good contract. They have shown how good they are, they are committed and Arsenal need to show how important they are by offering them a good contract as well.

"I stayed loyal [in the face of Real Madrid's interest in successive summers] because Arsenal wanted to compete against the best teams in England and in Europe. My contract was good as well so I didn't have any reason to leave, either financial or sporting, and other players deserve that as well."

If Wenger can keep Hleb and his other big players, then Vieira feels that only fine-tuning would be required in the summer to produce a squad capable of securing a first trophy since 2005, when he scored the decisive penalty in the FA Cup final shoot-out to beat Manchester United.

"They need players with more experience for the crucial games," he added. "They need one or two key players in key areas with experience to help them through the big games. But with the quality that Arsenal have, I don't believe that much has to be changed."