Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior is the centre of attention in the Spanish capital, and not just for his brilliant form. After dominating headlines during the Ballon d’Or news cycle due to President Florentino Perez’s decision for Los Blancos not to travel, the idea that the Brazilian might not be long for Los Blancos continues to persist.
In the summer, a number of figures emerged stating that Vinicius could expect to earn €1b over five years if he were to move to Saudi Arabia. While Real Madrid quoted his €1b release clause, the talk is of a remarkable transfer fee between €400-500m. Vinicius’ agents also met with Saudi Arabian’ officials after the transfer window closed in London, to continue relations between the two.
Nacho is not particularly happy he's been left out in the cold by Spain and Luis de la Fuente. pic.twitter.com/EIILaH1r8I
— Football España (@footballespana_) November 14, 2024
Of late, Vinicius has been quite clear that he wants to ‘stay at Real Madrid forever’, part of what Sport say is a back and forth between himself and the club. The persistence of the stories about his departure also come ahead of a potential contract renewal for Los Blancos, discussion that is on the horizon, with his current deal up in 2027.
The same source goes on to state that there are a growing number of voices in the entourage of Perez advising him to sell Vinicius. Amongst them are his son, Chivo, who is being handed increasing power both within the club and within Perez’s business outside of it. They believe that in one fell swoop, Los Blancos could solve their financial issues and settle Kylian Mbappe in his preferred left-sided role.
While it seems we are a long way from a deal happening, and ultimately Vinicius would have to be persuaded to leave the peak of European football for money, the groundwork is certainly being laid for Vinicius to be sold. The Brazilian has by a distance been their best player this season, but is not free from criticism all the same.
This is B*llsh*t news made to destabilise Real Madrid. In reality what is going to keep being revealed further is that MBappe does not have the close-up skillset required to succeed in Spain. The position has nothing to do with it.
Here is me doing the job for the “reporters”
I replied to someone… worth putting the same observations on their own here regarding what we have seen from MBappe so far:
1. Mis-timed runs
2. Poor ball control
3. Missing from the build-up play
4. ( abysmally poor) shooting decision making when clear on goal
5. lack of pressing up top
6. Inability to understand when to drop a bit deeper to help out.
The frequent argument is that he is being played out of position… the above points have nothing to do with position… it is to do with footballing IQ where you are required to participate in a team’s effort , rather than the team serve it up to you on a plate (at least Ronaldo was deadly efficient when he behaved the same). These are present in any elite level forward.
Lucho raised some of these things as a deficiency in his game but was recently blasted for revealing confidential things. What is becoming increasingly clear is that MBappe is NOT at Real Madrid level. If Joselu could come in cold into the team and contribute what he did last year then sorry – MBappe’s “best player” assessment is wrong. At Madrid, more than any other team a player is given the space to display his on-field interpretation. MBappe is fast proving that he needs a fixed team structure that is designed to feed him the ball ALWAYS… so he can miss 15 chances and then score the one goal that will be talked about. That is why he was standing in that free open space beyond the penatly box. He has absolutely wrecked the structure at Madrid … even with Kroos it would have been difficult.
The guy needs to be dropped to the bench, given 30 minutes at the end of games and forced to compete with Brahim Diaz, Arder Guler and Endrick to prove his place in the squad. That is how TEAM football works.