Vieira is head of elite development squad and is a key man at City

The Etihad Campus has been hailed as the best of its kind in the world

The confines of Manchester City’s round dressing room. The inner circle of the champions. Out of bounds to outsiders. Apart from today.

Patrick Vieira is in first, followed by Sportsmail's Martin Keown. We are only allowed such access on this three-hour tour of City’s dazzling new headquarters because 'all of the first team have gone home…'

Then Vincent Kompany appears, wondering out loud what these two Arsenal Invincibles, double winners and great old friends, are doing here.

'Monsieur Vieira'… 'Monsieur Kompany'…

VIDEO: Scroll down to watch Vieira and Keown's quickfire Q&A and tour of the academy

Patrick Vieira (left) and Martin Keown were reunited for a tour of Manchester City's new training complex

Vieira and Sportsmail's columnist embrace at the entrance to City's headquarters

Vieira and Keown shake hands and exchange a steely stare as Arsenal team-mates back in 2003

Vincent Kompany (right) joined the pair in City's round dressing room for a discussion on tackling

Formal greetings over and it's big smiles and bonhomie with Keown in the thick of it. Vieira is our guide (and a good one) and a regular here, of course, as the manager of the Elite Development Squad.

Kompany: 'Martin, do you know, the last time I saw this man (Vieira) he was telling me to be careful with my tackling! What about yourself, Patrick?'

Vieira: 'If you are going to talk about tackling, this man (Keown) was worse than me.'

Keown: 'No, no, no.'

Kompany: 'OK then, let’s agree: all three of us must be angels.'

A map of the new Etihad Campus - CLICK HERE to read more about the stunning new development

Keown was given an exclusive tour of City's new £200m Etihad Campus HQ, which was opened on Monday

Despite not playing together for 10 years, Vieira and Keown remain friends and laugh about old times

Keown gives Vieira a playful stare as they pose for a portrait by Sportsmail's Andy Hooper

The trio, with 878 Premier League appearances between them (and a total of 17 red cards - Vieira 8, Keown 6, Kompany 3, for anyone who is counting), continue their debate about the dying art of the tackle, before taking on the issue of City’s progress.

Kompany: 'The mood in this place is one that you can never stand still, never be satisfied. We have to keep going forward. We've had our difficulties, such as in the Champions League, but we want to go forward, we want more. It has all happened so quickly, it is phenomenal.

STAT'S AMAZING: CFA BY NUMBERS 450+ The proportion of academy players who hail from the Greater Manchester area. 75% The number of academy pitches dedicated to developing youth players, including a half pitch for goalkeeper training. 12.5 The span of the Bridge which connects the Etihad with the academy — the length of two football pitches. CLICK HERE for more stunning stats as Sportsmail analyses the numbers behind City's new facility... Advertisement

'When I came here, it was difficult to get the mix right between the great financial opportunity of playing for this club and the desire for sporting success. We had so much to prove. But after the first trophy (the 2011 FA Cup), it sets up everything else. Now we want more.'

Keown: 'I remember speaking to Yaya Toure three years ago. I didn’t think then that the club was ready to progress. It was like it was too much, too soon. But today, seeing all this and feeling the mood around the place, I feel Manchester City is ready. It is like a football factory is being created. It will help attract players and to develop your own. It’s the detail that is impressive.'

Kompany: 'We have yoga, a place to train at altitude where you can work for 30 minutes and it feels like two hours, use of the pools, brilliant chefs. We are tested for food intolerances and diets are adjusted accordingly.'

Vieira: 'And because of that, he (Kompany) can play until he is 37, 38, 40 with the medical advances here and the facilities we have. He can play three or four years longer than before.'

The facilities here are 'miles ahead' of those Vieira has experienced before. Even at Arsenal. At AC Milan. At Inter Milan. At Real Madrid, where he was shown around by Zinedine Zidane. At Clairefontaine, where France produced World Cup winners, including a 22-year-old Vieira. City’s new £200million training ground, which officially opened on Monday, is now fully operational.

Factories belching smoke and steam once covered the land where City's new facility now lies

City have spent £200m transforming the brownfield site into a world-class training complex

A view of the new CFA from City HQ, the home of the club's administrative operation

Before identifying the land in 2009 and starting work on one of 19 different design styles in 2010, they studied 30 multi-sport training facilities around the world, including the Australian Institute of Sport, and were granted access to Arsenal's training ground and Arsene Wenger's thinking behind his own design.

Every City player, from the age of eight to the first team, will train here, although there is a vast difference between the classrooms and development areas and the high-tech facilities of Manuel Pellegrini’s superstars.

Vieira explains: 'The next generation of players come in through the same entrance (as the first team), but then they turn left. The first team players turn right. They can watch them train, they can see it, they can smell it and they can see they need to have it.'

Two of Vieira’s development players were involved when City won 4-1 at Sunderland in the Barclays Premier League last week and Jose Pozo, 18, was again involved in the 1-0 win against Everton. His Under 19 team are top of their group in the UEFA junior league, beating Bayern Munich 6-0 on the way. 'It doesn’t matter what I have achieved before as a player; that is what motivates me now.'

Will this luxury help to deliver hungry street-warriors, or will they be too pampered? 'No, not too pampered. It will send out a message “you can achieve” to anyone who is talented enough to be here,' Vieira urges. Among those training currently are at least four juniors with significant Manchester United connections. The air might be turning blue in this city in more ways than one; the neighbours are more than noisy.

Vieira is in charge of City's Elite Development Squad and is enjoying great success in his role off the pitch

The former France midfielder is overseeing the development of City's young players into top-class footballers

Vieira keeps his team-mate apart from West Ham defender Stuart Pearce (centre) as tempers flare in 2000

Keown wins a header against Wimbledon in 1999 (left) and the pair combine to stop Paolo Di Canio a year later

Keown and Vieira were part of Arsenal's Invincibles, who celebrated winning the title at Tottenham in 2004

There is life training for schoolboys – cooking and financial advice among other lessons in the classrooms. There are psychologists and a vision they call 'Manchester City: from street to stadium'. Around 70 per cent of those employed to work on the training ground project and in jobs created since its inception are from Manchester and 80 per cent of the building material was sourced locally. International investment, but with local gains.

Keown is focusing again on the circular shape of the dressing room, facing Sergio Aguero’s locker. 'I can see there is no place for cliques, no hiding in corners.'

'It is designed like this so there is nowhere to hide,' says Vieira. The younger players have a dressing room that is the same shape, but smaller.

There is nowhere to hide in the circular first-team dressing room at the Performance Centre

Frank Lampard (second right) is among the City stars who train at the brand new, high-tech facility

After leaving Vincent’s company, Vieira speaks firmly. 'That man should never be allowed to leave this club. He is mature, smart, the captain, yes. He has been a leader since he was young, you can see that. But he is more than that; he has to remain part of our future.

'What we are trying to do is build more than a team. We are building a football club. You need role models, people who are aspirational. Vincent is one man, Pablo Zabaleta is another. It’s not the way of English football to continue to use ex-players in this role, as it is in Germany. They should. It will happen here.'

It feels odd to see Vieira in such a significant role at City. Why is he not at Arsenal, where he played for nine years? It was Brian Marwood, football administrator and another ex-Arsenal player, who had the foresight to ensure it was City’s gain.

'I am at home here. I am working with Brian, who has been like a mentor to me. When I retired, he offered me a path and a future. There is nothing I would not do for City and, whatever I do next, it will only be with the blessing of this club.'

The academy has 16 pitches in all, with one a bright shade of blue, matching the team's colours

He finished as a player wearing City blue and they offered him a two-year apprenticeship, working behind the scenes, learning about the workings of the club. It was then time to choose between 'the office and the turf'.

He chose the turf, but his popularity with the office staff remains. We stay at least an hour longer than we should, but he offers no complaint as he sweeps through the offices at the vast training centre, stopping for handshakes and cheerful waves with an army of coaches and analysts, as well as admin staff.

The junior players call him 'Patrick', not 'boss', but he explains: 'There is only one boss at this club and that is Manuel Pellegrini. I’m happy with “Patrick”. The young players show me respect… that is all that matters.'

He has decided he wants to be a manager, one day – 'I am 200 per cent sure,' he says. He is also aware that a black manager being successful would be significant. 'I would be naive if I didn’t recognise that, but I will only leave here if it is the right choice. It is important that I succeed; I want to be a great manager.' Like everything else at City, he seems to be on a journey.

Our tour continues and next it is Keown versus Vieira at football tennis in a skills room Keown later describes as 'like a den'.

Elite young players arrive early for work to play here and work on their technique. 'They don’t have to be forced to come in. They are here because they choose to be and their day is filled with the opportunity to become better players,' Vieira explains. It looks fun, but it’s serious when these two old warriors get the ball out.

'Run, Martin. Come on, you can't play… but you can run. Run, but watch those hamstrings.'

A panting Keown: 'I’m wearing shoes, you’re wearing trainers!'

It finishes - just about - honours even, the two of them contesting a tight line call; but later Keown, typically, is ever the analyst: 'The ball bounces high, you have to take it early, the surface has a real bounce… I would have beaten you if I had been wearing trainers.' Vieira lifts an eyebrow and smiles. With those long, powerful, spidery legs? Sorry, Martin, he was playing with you.

Keown and Vieira share a joke with Lee Clayton, Head of Sport at the Daily Mail and MailOnline

Vieira controls the ball on his chest during a game of head tennis with Keown on a specially designed court

While they often joke together, at times Keown and Vieira have differing opinions about the game

As they continue their stroll, they share many stories of when they played together at Arsenal.

'He told me off once,' recalls Vieira, 'for kissing a rival player in the tunnel before a game. It is the French culture to do that, but not for Martin! He went crazy. Playing with him, playing with that group of Arsenal players, they taught me to win. I had good teachers.'

Keown takes it up: 'He would come alive on match days, turning into a man of steel, but I sometimes called him Mr Floppy, because he wasn’t always that way in training.

'On occasions it might happen in a game, after half time and I’d be behind him, shouting at him: "Mr Floppy!" Once, Thierry Henry said “Patrick, why do you let him speak to you like that, calling you names?” Pat shrugged his shoulders and said: “It is Martin.”

'He arrived at Arsenal, signed from AC Milan, like a stray puppy. The club had also signed Remi Garde, a full France international. Patrick wasn't the big signing, he wasn't getting a game for Milan. Then in an early game for us, he hit a cross-field diagonal pass and the stadium went into a moment of stunned silence, followed by rapturous applause. A new star was born. And what a player he became. Three words that describe him? Class. Quality. Nice. Can I change nice to special? He was special. And nice.

'He learned to speak English quickly, immersed himself in the club and the culture. He was even eating a big cooked breakfast from time to time. I remember saying to him, “Are you sure you are a foreigner?”.’

They don’t always agree. Despite the hospitality of our hosts, Keown is adamant that Chelsea will win the title this season, but Vieira has a strong retort. 'It will be City. No doubt about it, Martin.'

The train journey back to London. Keown is summing up his day at Manchester City.

'That was no bulls*** show, was it? That club has a deeper vision, they are on a journey and they are creating pathways to the first team.

'The challenge now is to get young players – hopefully, young English players – through their system and playing for Manchester City in the Premier League.

'The captains of their Under 12, Under 16 and Under 18 teams are all English and won national championships in their age groups, seven of the England Under 16 squad are from City, 75 per cent of the academy is from Greater Manchester and they are moving in the right direction.

'They know it is not about a building - it is what that leads to - but I like what they have done. The round dressing rooms… just like King Arthur and his knights; everyone is equal.

'They have built in the heart of Manchester, too, and they are creating a heart and an infrastructure.

'We heard the story today of the cleaner whose son used to pick up syringes on that ground where they have built. She said, “It has taken a man from the desert” to regenerate the region.

Keown was highly impressed with City's developing project, saying afterwards: 'That was no bulls*** show'

There are 450-plus players who train at the academy every week, many under Vieira's tutelage

Keown is taken through the offices at the City HQ, which is next to the academy stadium

Vieira waves goodbye to Keown and Clayton after Sportsmail's exclusive insight in to the new City complex

'What is there not to be impressed with? I went to watch their Under 21s play against Reading and the entire first team turned up to watch. That doesn’t happen at other clubs. It told me they are all together.

'When you have players, leaders, like Vincent Kompany, that helps. I can't believe he is only 28. He’s still a baby. But what a winner, a leader. He is on the pitch and they have people like Patrick off the pitch. Pat will make a great manager one day, possibly for City - why should he go anywhere else and feel like he’s taking a step back?

'Us ex-Arsenal players question why he is at City and not Arsenal. I have found out why. He was a falling star and City rescued him, offered him direction. He does not forget. He is not an Arsenal man at City. He is a City man and they are lucky to have him.

'The money helps what City are doing, of course. But they are using it wisely. I told Vincent, “You have built a wonderful home”. We have seen something special. Something very special.'