There has been speculation that Real Madrid could loan 19-year-old forward Vinicius Junior soon, but here’s why Los Blancos should not make a move.
Vinicius Junior is one of the most promising young players in world football, and he was tabbed by analysts as a future Ballon d’Or winner before the start of the season. Heaping too much pressure on the shoulders of a young player is unwise, but Vinicius is indeed on the right trajectory as an important player in Real Madrid’s rotation.
Recently, Vinicius has been making appearances off the bench, as Eden Hazard and Rodrygo have locked down starting spots on the wing. With Gareth Bale, Lucas Vazquez, and fellow youngster Brahim Diaz lurking, Vinicius’ pathway to playing time isn’t completely clear.
Thus, the door has been opened for speculation, and there’s been plenty of it regarding Vinicius’ status. AS had to put out a report denying any interest from Real Madrid in loaning out Vinicius after rumors started circulating. But Sport has reported further interest from PSG in Vinicius, whom they apparently asked for in a potential Neymar deal this summer.
Vinicius shouldn’t go anywhere. While his preferred position is as a left winger and Hazard has that spot locked down, especially now that he’s back in superstar form, he is still a critical backup. Furthermore, Hazard’s presence shouldn’t preclude Vinicius from getting his minutes, as Real do need to rotate out Hazard. Even though Vinicius is better on the left than on the right, he’s still competent on the right and should get appearances over Vazquez and Bale behind Rodrygo. Bale has no real future at the club beyond 2020 and is on the way out anyway.
Rodrygo has stolen the show as Real’s top prospect, a future superstar, and already a current starting-quality player; few can deny his ability after he recorded a perfect hat trick against Galatasaray last week.
However, Rodrygo’s success shouldn’t be used to diminish the talent Vinicius has shown this year. He scored a wonderful goal against Osasuna and has remained a threat whenever on the pitch for Real. Vinicius does everything right on the ball as an attacker, carrying the ball into dangerous areas with an eye for his teammates. He puts in so much hard work on and off the ball, tracking back defensively to give his fullback more than sufficient cover.
Loaning out Vinicius is risky, and players of his caliber, who are already receiving significant minutes for a top club, rarely get loaned out. And selling Vinicius wouldn’t be wise either, since his value only stands to increase as he develops consistency to his game.
Worse yet, selling Vinicius to a team like PSG could mean that Real Madrid will have to face him in a Champions League knockout game in the future. Why would Real want to help a future challenger for a title? At least if Vinicius were sold to Europa League teams like Manchester United or Arsenal, they wouldn’t have to fret as much about being burned by him in a critical game.
Trading Vinicius is the only option that would make sense in one particular case: If PSG played hardball and would only sell Kylian Mbappe if Vinicius were given in return as something mimicking a replacement. In that case, Vinicius would have to be traded, since he wouldn’t really have a spot behind Hazard, Mbappe, and Rodrygo anyway.
Otherwise, loaning Vinicius is ridiculous and below his status as an already-established, first-team caliber player. Selling him for cash at this stage is even more preposterous, since Real would end up losing a future superstar at less than peak value. Vinicius is an excellent, hard-working player who does everything asked of him and is a key part of Real’s title hopes in 2019-2020 (and beyond), so any speculation about his future is either premature or flat-out unwarranted.