Patrick Vieira is confident his former Inter Milan team-mate Maicon has plenty to offer Manchester City.
City announced on transfer deadline day that they had completed the signing of the Brazilian right-back from Inter for an undisclosed fee.
There were already right-sided full-back options at City in Micah Richards - recently sidelined by an ankle injury - and Pablo Zabaleta, and a vivid memory for many English football fans is the sight of Maicon, now 31, being given a torrid time two years ago by Tottenham's Gareth Bale in the Champions League.
But for Vieira, who joined City from Inter in 2010 and retired last summer, there is no doubt that with the capture, the Blues have brought in a "fantastic" player and one ready to give his all for the club - particularly with a World Cup in his home country in 2014 to work towards.
"Maicon is a fantastic player," Vieira, the former midfielder now working as City's football development executive, told Press Association Sport.
"I spent a few years with him at Inter and he has experience and talent.
"He has the ambition to be part of the Brazilian national team for the World Cup.
"It is something really important for him and I am sure he will bring a lot to this football club. He is a fantastic character to have around too."
Maicon was one of five new signings whose deals were tied up by City on the final day of the transfer window, with Scott Sinclair, Javi Garcia, Matija Nastasic and Richard Wright being the four other late arrivals.
Some of the quintet may be in line to make their City debuts in Saturday's Barclays Premier League away game at Stoke, and with Jack Rodwell having also joined over the summer, Vieira feels Blues boss Roberto Mancini has made some exciting additions to his squad.
The 36-year-old former France international said: "I think we all know we are talking about quality players - Sinclair, Rodwell, Garcia, Maicon - and we just hope they are going to settle as soon as possible.
"Maicon has the experience of winning the Italian league and the Champions League and to have him at the football club is fantastic.
"Sinclair is a young, talented player and hopefully coming to City will help him get to another level.
"Rodwell has already played and has done really well so far, and Garcia is also a young talent - it is exciting to have these players at the club."
City are looking this term to retain the Premier League title they won for the first time in May and improve upon their debut Champions League campaign last season, where they failed to get out of their group.
For all his late transfer activity, Mancini appeared to miss out on acquiring some of his major targets over the summer, but Vieira believes City have enough at their disposal in 2012-13 to keep hold of their domestic crown and prosper in Europe.
"Only Roberto Mancini can answer the question of how good the team is to challenge other teams in the Champions League or the Premier League," Vieira said.
"But in the end, when you look at the team, I personally believe we are good enough to retain the title and to challenge any of the other teams in the Champions League.
"In football, there is no 'right way' to do things, though, so we will just have to wait and see what happens."
::Patrick Vieira is the ambassador for the 'PASS' education scheme, which will start when the group stages of the 2012-13 UEFA Europa League get under way on September 20. The programme is set to turn every successful pass in this season's competition into funding to provide education for young people around the world. Over the next three seasons, Western Union Foundation has committed to fund one million days of education and one of the focus countries will be Vieira's home country, Senegal.
