Vinicius Jr’s future at Real Madrid is up in the air after negotiations for his renewal stalled at the end of last season.
This conversation happened after the last El Clasico, when Vinicius Jr apologised to Perez because of his reaction at being substituted — he was clearly angry towards Alonso.
The 25-year-old, who joined from Flamengo in 2018 for €45m, extended his contract in the summer of 2022 for five years.
This contract meant the player would receive a large pay rise and his release clause would be set at €1billion.
Madrid opened negotiations for the renewal in January, when Vinicius Jr rejected the first proposal. The club then asked him for a figure, which was not accepted by the board when his representatives conveyed it.
The Athletic revealed Vinicius Jr had asked for a package of up to around €30m net per season. This includes a fixed salary (the striker is on around €18m — on a par with Kylian Mbappe — after achieving several bonuses such as for winning the The FIFA Best award), add-ons and something unprecedented at Madrid: a renewal bonus.
There has been no agreement yet, and it continues to generate a lot of noise.
His difficult relationship with new coach Alonso has only added to the speculation. It is expected to be a factor in this process, and key figures at the club are aware of it.
This season, Vinicius Jr has only completed 90 minutes five times and has been benched in four matches.
After representatives from Saudi Arabia showed willingness to offer Vinicius Jr a huge contract in 2024 — valued above €1billion for five years — the interest cooled down months ago.
Mario Cortegana
What else do I need to know about him?
Vinicius Jr has always stated that he wants to stay at Madrid, but the wait only adds to the uncertainty.
His agency, Roc Nation, the entertainment company founded by Jay-Z, is known for following a particular management style.
Vinicius Jr is one of the few Madrid players who owns more than 50 per cent of his image rights, despite the normal thing being to have them shared equally with the club.
He renewed his contract in 2022 until 2027, while his Brazil team-mates and friends Eder Militao and Rodrygo extended until 2028. Why? To have greater negotiating power earlier, if he continued to improve.
Vinicius Jr and his agents are also asking for a renewal bonus now, something the club do not want to entertain.
The player and his camp’s stance is that if the salary cap cannot be broken despite Mbappe and other players receiving extra income for arriving as free agents with a signing bonus, a renewal fee bridges the gap.
They believe the closer they get to the end of his contract, the better terms they will achieve because of the risk Madrid would run of selling him for an amount below his actual market value in 2026 — or losing him for free in 2027.
Mario Cortegana
Tell me about how he plays
Vinicius Jr is probably the most entertaining player at Madrid, and that’s saying a lot in a team that includes Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Arda Guler, among others.
He fulfils everything expected from a Brazil star: offensive, daring, flashy, imaginative, and highly skilled. Whenever he receives the ball on the left wing, he is thinking about attacking.
As we can see from the scatter plot below, few players in world football can match his appetite for running at defenders with a consistent ability to crash into the box.
When he plays at the Bernabeu the same thing always happens: first, there is silence, as if people are preparing for something, and next, there is a growing murmur until he finishes what he is trying to do.
He has traditionally played on the wing, even after the arrival of Mbappe in the summer of 2024. Although under Carlo Ancelotti, he successfully played as a No 9.
Despite the speculation, he remains a crowd favourite. Now the big question is: will he remain a Madrid player?
Mario Cortegana