Real Madrid: Avoid fretting about manufactured Vinicius Júnior drama

Real Madrid left winger Vinicius Júnior is the subject of disconcerting rumors again, but we’ve been here before.

Stop me if you heard this before. Vinicius Junior is mad at Zinedine Zidane. He’s one of the team’s best young players and needs playing time, so he wants Real Madrid to get him on the pitch more often. He was left out of a few games or one important game or not subbed in. Whatever it is. He’s mad. Oh, and PSG is interested! Can’t forget about those guys! Hey, maybe they’ll demand him in a trade for Kylian Mbappé!

That is the exact path of reasoning the rumor mill used late in 2019 when Vinicius Júniorwas playing fewer minutes than new wide forward Rodrygo Goes, who had the hot hand in the late Fall and early winter.

And lo and behold, after Vinicius Júnior did not play against Manchester City as a substitute, we are back to this point with a report from MARCA that the left winger is wondering why he didn’t play and Zidane isn’t “fully convinced” by Vini. (Even though he started him against Barcelona, and Vinicius was the best player on the pitch as the first goal-scorer in the 2-0 win…)

Look, it’s easy to get worked up about this. They call the transfer window “silly season” for a reason, and the definition of silly would be Real Madrid losing any sort of faith in a player literally every other club in the world would want to have .Vinicius is special, and anyone who has watched him play for more than 30 minutes gets it.

Real Madrid and Vinicius Júnior’s problem is squad quality

So I’m sure the manager who won three straight Champions Leagues and was a hyped-up youngster himself knows Vini’s position and values him. Again, if he didn’t value Vinicius, he wouldn’t have played him in important games, such as the Clásico.

It’s just that Vinicius can’t play every game. Fitting in Eden Hazard, Vini, and Rodrygo is no easy task, since all three are ideally left wingers and are all starting-caliber players. Keeping Hazard on the bench when he’s fit is especially tough.

The truth is that Zidane made a mistake. He should have started Vinicius, because Hazard wasn’t 100 percent. Hazard wanted to play, Real wanted him to play, and they messed up. Zidane then made an even bigger error by never subbing in Vinicius for Hazard, and he has to acknowledge that he messed up. Every Madridista knows Vinicius should have been out there in the second leg against City,  and he was a standout in the first leg.

Vinicius isn’t going anywhere. PSG will always be linked, because any club of their stature should be dreaming of signing a young winger like the hard-working Brazilian. But he is Real Madrid’s player, he is crucial to the plans, and he will play soon enough. This latest cycle of rumors will fade into the background, too, just as they did the first time.