Real Madrid superstar left winger Vinicius Junior actually had an excellent World Cup at an individual level, sweeping home Man of the Match honors in the group stages. But while this was the strongest Vini looked for Brazil as an individual, this was the weakest Brazil team we have seen in the last decades, and it showed, with Brazil exiting the competition in the Round of 16 to Norway despite Vini's best efforts.
He will head back to Real Madrid this summer, ready to work his hardest under Jose Mourinho to bring titles to the Royal White quarter after two seasons with no trophies since the arrival of French superstar Kylian Mbappe, who won the Golden Boot and was rated the tournament's third best player by FIFA after finalists Rodri and Lionel Messi.
As Vinicius focuses on Real Madrid, he has suddenly been given a worry back at home with Brazil. Part of Vini's resurgence was attributable to better coaching, as the same manager who helped Vini break out as a true superstar in 2021/22 and win two Champions League titles, Carlo Ancelotti, recently became manager of the Selecao. But he is already being recruited away.
Vinicius Junior does not want to suffer this loss
Via Fabrizio Romano, the new director of the Italian footballing federation Paolo Maldini admitted that he has put out feelers to elite managers in an effort to make a big splash hire. Maldini said that Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti were two names they reached out to:
“We have approached Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola. We wanted to start talking with the best world class managers to understand if they could be available for Italy job”
Now, that does not mean that Ancelotti is going to abandon Brazil for Italy or that he is in any way interested in the job of his home country, but it would be an intriguing proposition for him. And though Brazil is stronger than Italy, as this World Cup showed, it is not by much, and they do have a problem with producing talents like they used to, similar to Italy.
Brazil are still committed to Ancelotti despite a rough World Cup, but with how many bad decisions the Selecao have made and how many managers they burn through, Carletto's days are never fully secure. And Italy showing the interest is floating a nightmare situation for VInicius Junior, because Carlo is the perfect manager for him. If Carlo were to leave, any new manager Brazil would hire would certainly be worse.
Add us as a preferred source on Google