Trust me when I say I’m not back tracking on my article from almost a week ago regarding Real Madrid and their pursuit of Brazilian starlet, Vinicius Junior. Real have agreed to terms with Campeonato Brasileiro Série A side Flamengo to acquire the 16 year-old, just not until the summer of 2019. Ben Sundock has more.
Florentino Perez and Zinedine Zidane continue their push to bring in young talent and develop players internally rather than buying players at their peak. And I love it.
The club officially announced that they have agreed to terms with left winger Vinicius Junior and his current club, Flamengo, earlier today. However, the details of the deal are a tad complicated. Let’s take a look at the statement released by Real Madrid:
"“Real Madrid C. F. and Clube de Regatas do Flamengo have reached an agreement regarding the transfer of the federative rights of the player Vinicius Junior from July 2018. The player will remain at his current club until July 2019, although he will be able to play for Real Madrid before then if both clubs agree to it.”"
As I had reported in my article 6 days ago, Vinicius signed a new deal with Flamengo, but that only bumped his pay and kept him through this upcoming season. And as expected, Real Madrid will have the option to add the young talent as early as right after the World Cup next summer in Russia.
The buyout for Junior, although quite hefty at €45 million, shouldn’t worry Madridistas as several soccer media giants, such as Squawka, have labeled Vinicius as ‘the next Neymar.’ They also believe that the reason Real are so willing to pay such a large amount for such an unexperienced talent is because of their failure to acquire Neymar or Gabriel Jesus.
Perez and his board seem to have agreed that this 16 year-old is the next ‘big time’ player out of Brazil, and would be a great addition to a squad that already features three talented Brazilians, in Marcelo, Casemiro, and Danilo.
Junior was just called up to the Flamengo senior squad a couple weeks ago after impressing at the CONMEBOL Under-17 Championships.
Next: Why do Real Madrid Celebrate at the Cibeles Fountain?
In my opinion, this is a great move by Los Blancos and shows me that they are firmly committed to developing players into Galácticos, rather than just buying them from other European clubs. Plus, agreeing to terms with him now ensures that, if he has an incredible season this year in Brazil, and his value rises, it won’t affect Real’s transfer budget, as they have already allotted the money to signing him.
The deal states that the La Liga champions will pay Flamengo €30 million up front, and the remaining €15 million in regular intervals over the next two years.
Vinicius Junior will have one or two seasons still in Brazil, plus national team play, to hone his craft and prepare for the tough competition in Spain come the 2019/2020 season at the latest.