Real Madrid are still lacking a good version of Vinicius Jr. The Brazilian footballer is far from the level he has shown in recent years in the white team. He has left great brushstrokes in some games of the season, but his consistency has not appeared and Real Madrid is noticing it.
Poor numbers from Vinicius
You only have to look at the numbers for Vinicius in the last two months of the competition. He has only scored 2 goals in 12 games, a figure that is striking, especially because the two goals have come recently, just before the international break. But beyond the number of goals, his impact on the games is worrying. It is understandable that this season other players have taken responsibility for the goalscoring aspect, as is the case of Kylian Mbappé, who, without having yet played a brilliant game, in the goal-scoring aspect cannot be given a single but.
If we look at the season as a whole, the Brazilian striker has scored only ten goals, most of them at the Santiago Bernabéu in Real Madrid’s home games. The curious thing is that he has only scored against five teams at home: Espanyol, Villarreal, Girona, Rayo (the latter two in the last two home games) and Osasuna, where he scored a hat-trick. These figures are lower than what is expected of a footballer like him.
A lot of noise during the season
Without a doubt, this season Vinicius has been hogging the media headlines, and not exactly for his sporting performance. Real Madrid consider that there has been a lot of noise around the player, whether it be because of the controversies he has been involved in (both with rivals and with opposing fans), the one over his appearance at the Ballon d’Or gala, or because of his future.
The million-dollar offer from Saudi Arabia has shaken the dressing room at Valdebebas. Although the footballer has reiterated his desire to continue with the team, he has used the staggering offer (1 billion net for five seasons) to ask for a salary increase at Real Madrid and become the highest paid player on the squad. For the moment the negotiations will be postponed until the end of the season, but there is no hurry for the Whites as the player’s contract ends in 2027. What does seem clear is that Real Madrid are not going to pay him everything he is asking for, and now they have arguments for not giving in.
A key end to the season
We are in the final months of the season, and Real Madrid need to get the best out of Vinicius if they want to aspire to everything. The first key game is this Tuesday, in the semi-final of the Copa del Rey against Real Sociedad. Then it’s back to LaLiga, where Real Madrid, seeing how Barcelona are doing, can’t afford a single slip-up if they want to close the three-point gap on their eternal rival. And then comes the Champions League quarter-final against Arsenal.
We are in the final stretch with games that can be decided by details, and the players called upon to make a difference have to step forward. In this sense, recovering the best version of Vinicius is one of the imperative objectives of Ancelotti right now. Real Madrid needs him, but so does the Brazilian, who, in a season with a lot of background noise, is not able to recover the football he has in his boots. Meanwhile, the Bernabéu is already starting to have a new idol, Mbappé, who with his goals and his work is starting to take over as leader.