Fabio Vieira with Porto (photo via Forca.Dragoes on Instagram)

Fabio Vieira has made a slow start to his loan return to Porto after injury kept him out until the end of September.

The midfielder returned to action against Arroca on 29 September, playing 21 minutes as a substitute, but had to wait another three weeks for his first start of the season.

That start finally came on Sunday when Porto took on Sintrense at the Estadio Taca de Portugal.

LONDON, ENGLAND: Arsenal’s Fabio Vieira watches the pre-season friendly match between Arsenal and Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the Emirates Stadium on August 7, 2024. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

Given Sintrense’s status as a Portuguese fourth division club, Porto required rotation for this game.

Only Neuen Perez, Alan Varela and Wenderson Galeno retained their places in the previous league games, with the remaining eight players out. So it’s hard to put too much weight on Vieira’s selection for the game.

The Arsenal loanee played 64 minutes and was involved in Porto’s opening goal, bringing on Gonçalo Borges on the right flank. Borges passed to Galeno to make the game 1-0.

After adding two quick goals just before the hour mark to make it 3-0, Porto made a triple substitution, with Vieira coming on.

Fabio Vieira with Porto (Photo via Porto Instagram)

Porto return to Europa League action in midweek when they host Hoffenheim on Thursday 24 October at 20:00 BST. They will then play against AVS Futebol SAD in a league match next Monday.

It will be interesting to see if Vieira starts any of these matches as he continues to increase his minutes.

When Porto agreed to Vieira’s loan, Fabrizio Romano revealed that there was a clause in the deal that meant the Portuguese club would owe extra money if the player did not play 50% of his matches. So they definitely have an incentive to turn it on.