Arsenal told to thank Patrick Vieira for significant cash windfall as Serie A giants chase ex-star

Arsenal could be in line for an instant further cash boost with one of their former academy talents chased by three of Italy’s top clubs.

Brooke Norton-Cuffy has flourished in his sophomore season in Serie A after completing a cut-price £3.5million move to Genoa last year.

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The 21-year-old, who trained with Chelsea before joining Arsenal‘s youth set-up as a youngster, spent nearly a decade at the Gunners.

He had amassed over 100 senior appearances at the time of his Italian adventure in August 2024, but none of them for Arsenal.

The defender spent time on loan at Lincoln, Rotherham, Millwall, and even started for Coventry alongside Viktor Gyokeres in their Championship play-off final defeat on penalties to Luton Town.

Three Serie A giants chase Norton-Cuffy

Norton-Cuffy emulated childhood friend Samuel Iling-Junior in leaving a London club for Serie A when he arrived at Genoa.

Injuries restricted him to just eight league starts in his maiden campaign in Italy, six of which came from late-April onwards.

Norton-Cuffy went on to help England defend their U21 European Championship title this summer before flourishing back at Genoa.

Patrick Vieira left the club last month after overseeing their worst-ever start to a Serie A season, yet his work with Norton-Cuffy remained a key highlight.

The latter started Genoa’s first 12 league matches this term at either right-back or right-midfield and also registered an assist.

His form has caught the eye of both Inter Milan and Juventus, with reigning Serie A champions Napoli credited with an interest as well.

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Arsenal set for transfer profit

The Gunners included a significant sell-on clause as part of the initial £1.75m deal, plus a further £1.75m in bonuses, to sell Norton-Cuffy.

And European football expert, Andy Brassell, has claimed that the Gooners should be thanking icon Vieira for raising his price tag.

“We can sort of unfairly label younger players and say, well, look, Brits and particularly English aren’t great travellers,” Brassell exclusively told talkSPORT. “I don’t think that really counts anymore for a couple of reasons.

“Firstly, football’s really multinational. Secondly, it’s a completely different generation. Thirdly, we’re almost the other side of the FIFA-ization of football, really, in that these guys all grew up playing FIFA now, EAFC.

“So they’ll have played with like Milan and Dortmund and Bayern and PSG and maybe a Borussia Mönchengladbach and a Genoa as well.

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Norton-Cuffy ‘really improved’ under Vieira

“I think that the big clubs from these leagues will mean as much to them in some cases as some of the biggest clubs in the Premier League because they see them in a Champions League or Europa League context,” Brassell continued.

“Now, Norton-Cuffy clearly just needed a chance. I think the [Patrick] Vieira connection is important because he’s really come on in the last year.

“When Vieira, even though he’s since been fired by Genoa after they didn’t have a brilliant start to the season, the first thing that Vieira managed to do was get Genoa to stop leaking goals.

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“The way that he coached them to defend economically, sensibly, collectively, we knew already that Norton-Cuffy is good with the ball.

“But I think under Vieira, he’s really, really improved as a defender as well.

“That’s why you’re getting the interest at this point from Juventus and Napoli because it’s great to be great on the ball, but unless you can defend, well, Antonio Conte is not going to be interested in you. I think that’s pretty clear.

“So it’s a testament to how hard he’s worked at his game, but also how well Vieira did with him in the time that he had at Genoa.”