Arsenal faces a quick setback in their chase for Vinicius Junior as Real Madrid makes a move – report
Arsenal showed interest in making a big signing this summer when news came out that they were thinking about bringing Vinicius Junior to the club. But it looks like this move might be over before it really started.
Right after the news broke, Jose Mourinho made it clear that bringing the Brazilian star to North London wasn’t going to be easy. Vinicius Junior has been stuck in talks with Real Madrid about a new contract, with his current deal ending next season.
Real Madrid wouldn’t want to lose such a key player for free, so they might have been open to a deal with Arsenal, even if it meant paying him a lot. But now, it seems Arsenal’s interest has actually pushed Vinicius and Real Madrid back to the negotiating table.
Reports from AS Diario say that Vinicius will meet with Real Madrid’s management soon to get a better idea of his role in Mourinho’s new plans. They’ll also discuss his salary, which he reportedly wants to raise to about €20 million a year—€5 million more than his current deal, which runs until 2027.
It looks like Vinicius wants to stay at Real Madrid, and the club wants to keep one of their top players for a long time. Fans of Real Madrid will be hoping they can agree, especially since Vinicius has been so important in their recent Champions League wins, scoring in the 2022 and 2024 finals.
On the other hand, Arsenal fans got excited about the link to one of the world’s best forwards—Vinicius finished second in the 2024 Ballon d’Or voting, just behind Rodri. Mikel Arteta is aiming to boost the team to defend their Premier League title and do better in the Champions League next season, and signing Vinicius would be a big step towards that.
Even though transfers can fall through, some Arsenal fans are already treating the deal as done, partly because of the way journalist David Ornstein announced the news. But there’s still more negotiating to happen between Real Madrid and Arsenal before anything is finalized.
Fans have looked back at Ornstein’s past tweets and noticed that when he used the word “exploring,” it sometimes meant the deal was close—like with Arsenal’s signings of David Raya, Jorginho, and Gabriel Jesus. But there are also examples where “exploring” didn’t lead to a signing.
For example, Arsenal couldn’t get Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa, and he eventually went to Juventus. Other targets didn’t come to Arsenal either—like Raphinha, who left Leeds to join Barcelona, and Real Madrid stars Karim Benzema and Angel Di Maria back in 2013. Jamie Vardy was another player Arsenal tried to sign but didn’t get, despite Ornstein’s reports.
So, while the Vinicius news is exciting, Arsenal fans will have to wait and see what happens next.