Jamie Carragher rates Arsenal's chances of signing Vinicius Junior this summer | OneFootball

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has spoken out on Arsenal’s rumoured transfer pursuit of Real Madrid superstar Vinicius Junior.

The Brazil international is one of the biggest names in world football at the moment, and he’s been strongly linked as a surprise summer target for the Gunners.

Although Arsenal are the reigning Premier League champions, this would be a statement signing not only for them, but arguably for the English top division as a whole.

As reported by ESPN and others, Vini Jr is in the final year of his Real Madrid contract and Arsenal are keeping an eye on the situation as he may not renew, which would surely mean a sale this summer to avoid him leaving on a free in a year’s time.

Jamie Carragher thinks Vinicius Junior will sign new contract

Still, although Carragher would like to see that calibre of player coming to a Premier League club, he’s cast major doubts over Arsenal being able to land Vinicius.

Speaking to The Football Ramble, the pundit said: “I think the Vinicius Junior thing is really interesting in that I do think you need something like that to win the Champions League.

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“Obviously you’ve proven you can win the league but I just can’t see Arsenal winning it [the Champions League] because those players… think of the teams that win the Champions League, think of the guy up front or the winger, it’s top-five players in the world.”

He added: “I’d love to see it. I think we lack top players in the Premier League right now, I do.”

Still, he clarified: “I just can’t see it happening. He’s surely doing it to get a new contract at Real Madrid.”

Who else could Arsenal sign in attack?

Arsenal fans will be dreaming of Vinicius now, but they also surely need to have a Plan B in mind, so who else is there?

Morgan Rogers was a target for AFC but he’s now joined Chelsea. BBC Sport also linked them with Bradley Barcola earlier in the summer, but he’s now a top priority for Liverpool, as per another BBC Sport report.

After those players, it perhaps becomes a bit harder to think of ideal candidates who are actually available.

If Barcola leaves PSG, then that surely means players like Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia wouldn’t be available.

Names like Raphinha and Luis Diaz come to mind, but are important for their respective clubs, while Jeremy Doku surely wouldn’t be allowed to leave Manchester City for a major title rival.

In many ways, Arsenal need the Vini Jr deal to happen or they could really struggle to find anyone to give them a much-needed upgrade on the inconsistent Gabriel Martinelli.