Vinicius Junior’s future at Real Madrid appears to be up in the air with club president Florentino Perez’s son pushing for the Brazilian to be sold.
The winger has starred for Madrid since stepping into their senior team in 2018. He has helped them to win three La Liga titles and has scored in both Champions League finals Madrid have won with him in the team.
His contract will expire in the summer of 2027 and it would have been expected that the reigning La Liga champions would look to hand the 24-year-old an extension. But it appears that it will not be as straightforward as it would at first seem.
Madrid have endured a difficult campaign so far despite the blockbuster addition of Kylian Mbappe in the summer. The Frenchman has struggled to gel though, with boss Carlo Ancelotti failing to find a way to get his forward stars to play together.
Mbappe has grown frustrated at being forced to play through the middle rather than his preferred position out on the left. Vinicius currently occupies that role in the Madrid team, but may soon be on his way out of the Bernabeu.
According to Sport, Ancelotti warned club chiefs in the summer that he had too many forwards in the squad. As a result, Perez’s son Chivo is said to have been ‘insisting’ that Vinicius should be sold.
Selling Vinicius would allow Mbappe to move across to the left, potentially solving the issues with the balance of the squad. That is the first reason those close to Perez are pushing for an exit.
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The second is due to the precarious state of the club’s finances. The decision to push forward with a rebuild of the Bernabeu and the Covid-19 pandemic has left Madrid with several concerns in their accounts.
A sale of Vinicius, which would likely be for a blockbuster fee, would go some way to relieving those problems. The Brazilian has been offered a bumper contract by a club in Saudi Arabia, with those close to Perez insisting he consider negotiating a sale.
Such a transfer would solve Madrid’s financial issues, which stem from their rebuild of the Bernabeu. It would not happen until next summer at the earliest though, with Perez keen to keep hold of Vinicius.
The Brazilian is said to be aware of the discussions around his future and is ‘challenging’ Perez’s advisors. He is understood to prefer to stay at the Bernabeu beyond the end of his current contract.
While he was receptive to the offer from Saudi, Madrid remains the place he wants to stay. The ball is now in Perez’s court, with those close to the president urging him to sanction a shock deal.
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