Vinicius to join Arsenal over Man Utd in Real Madrid star’s Premier League transfer ranking | OneFootball

Vinicius Junior has informed Real Madrid president Florentino Perez that he is not of a mind to extend his Real Madrid contract beyond 2027 owing to his fraught relationship with manager Xabi Alonso.

After shaking his head in disgust and muttering “always me, I’m leaving the team” after being substituted in the 72nd minute of El Clasico last month, his exit may in fact come sooner than that, with The Athletic revealing that tensions between Vinicius and Alonso ‘have only grown’ as the season’s gone on – ‘it is a topic of daily debate inside and outside the club.’

The question Vinicius and his representatives must now be asking is which clubs in world football could offer the £150m likely required to sign him, at least match his £350,000-per-week wages and be comfortable with the reality of him having to be The Man at their club for fear of him throwing a hissy fit if that’s not the case.

The smart money would be on the mad money coming from Saudi Arabia, but what about his Premier League options? We’ve ranked the Big Six on their chance of signing him.

6) Tottenham

Oh to be a fly on the dressing room wall as Thomas Frank explains to Vinicius the importance of timing his runs to get on the end of long ball flick-ons that Richarlison never wins.

“Can’t we play through the lines, gaffer?” Vinicius says, to suppressed chuckles from the Spurs masses.

“No, but look at our stadium,” Frank replies.

5) Chelsea

A Brazilian front three at Stamford Bridge would be fun, but spending big on ready-made stars isn’t part of a Chelsea plan based largely upon resale value and the key difference between Vinicius, Joao Pedro and Estevao is the Blues pair’s outstanding work off the ball as well as on it.

There’s also a very good and highly amusing possibility that the Blues hierarchy may deem Vinicius a bit too old for them. At 25 he would be the fifth-oldest player in the squad.

Would be well worth it purely to see Vinicius’ reaction to teammate and compatriot Estevao winning the Ballon d’Or ahead of him.

4) Manchester City

“Vinicius is… wow,” was a Pep Guardiola press conference snippet that’s predictably been cited as evidence of the Manchester City manager’s interest in signing the Brazilian by some outlets.

But it was midway through an answer on the excellence of Jeremy Doku and how “incredible” Liverpool right-back Conor Bradley endured a nightmare against him in the recent 3-0 City win over the Reds having coped very comfortably indeed with the problems posed by Vinicius a few days.

Guardiola did say in that same press conference that Doku “will never be a top, top scorer” and City could really do with some goals from their forwards beyond Erling Haaland’s contribution that Vinicius would provide. It could happen under Guardiola, but strikes us as a far more post-Pep panic move from a state-owned football club looking to sell shirts as they suffer a legacy boss comedown.

3) Liverpool

It would very New Liverpool for Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards to look at their alarming issues in defence, their stunning dip in midfield dynamism and the general lack of cohesion in a squad on the back of signing £420m-worth of big-name talent and think the best fix to be signing a famously stroppy, high-maintenance winger to play on the left over someone to play on the opposite side to replace their in-situ stroppy, high-maintenance winger.

2) Manchester United

Any teenager would think it mad that Vinicius Junior would even consider a move to Manchester United. Most of them won’t remember the last time they won the Premier League title in 2012 and will be relying on tales of their exasperating greatness from parents, grandparents or millennial friends and family in order to fathom why members of an Amazonic tribe are still wearing Nike AIG Cristiano Ronaldo No. 7 shirts.

Vinicius would have just turned eight when Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez were leading the line for United in the 2008 Champions League final win over Chelsea. They weren’t just one of the biggest teams in world football then, they were actually one of the best. Chances are they would have been somewhere near the top of a Vini Jr dream football club list.

Amid reports that a sponsor will ‘cover the cost’ of his transfer for Manchester United the immediate thought is that INEOS are doing things a bit differently to their predecessors. No whopping contracts for quick-fix superstars. Not buying British but buying British based at least; achieving some success in doing so with Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.

But we must never discount the nagging Manchester United need to occasionally prove to the world that they are indeed Manchester United and can still attract the very biggest names in football, even when they’re not what they need in any way and are actually quite likely to undo the slight and evidently brittle improvements they’ve made under Ruben Amorim.

1) Arsenal

It doesn’t reflect at all well on Vinicius that a team as impeccably well-drilled and brilliant as Arsenal has to be able to cope with having him in the team. While the quality he would provide in attack may not be enough to offset his lack of contribution in defence for others in the Premier League, Mikel Arteta’s side may just be at a stage in his ‘process’ where they can afford a defensive passenger who can make such a difference in the final third. They’re ready to ‘break the bank’ as ‘favourites’ to sign him.

Riccardo Calafiori has looked very comfortable on that left side of defence for Arsenal and Declan Rice can always shift across and defend when necessary as an all-round midfield master.

Leandro Trossard was given his dues in the form of people who haven’t given him his dues saying others haven’t given him his dues after his excellent performance against Tottenham, but let’s be absolutely clear, Arsenal are still very much in the market for a new left winger.

And with eyes on the Champions League either on top of the Premier League in 2026 or after it in 2027, it would be useful to have a guy who’s won it twice and scored in both of those finals.