The French veteran midfielder has picked up a thigh injury that may rule him out of Inter's Serie A opener against Sampdoria on August 31st.

Inter are already without defenders Walter Samuel, Ivan Cordoba, Cristian Chivu and Marco Materazzi due to injury.

"It is an unlucky period, but I won’t give up," Vieira told Inter's website on Friday.

"I am disappointed but I remain optimistic. I will do everything I can to be ready for the start of the season.

"Things were going really well. The signs were all positive and then this bad luck happened.

"I still want to be there to win lots of things with Inter and I will beat this set-back."