The topic of Vinicius Junior’s future has been a recurring theme around Real Madrid this season, amid negotiations with Real Madrid over a new contract at the Bernabeu and the interest from Saudi Arabia in making him their next superstar signing.
It all started last summer, when The Athletic revealed that a Public Investment Fund (PIF) delegation, working on behalf of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Sport, had presented a lucrative proposal to the Brazil forward.
Madrid rejected any possible negotiations and pointed to Vinicius’ release clause, which was raised to €1billion (£860m, $1.14bn) when he extended his contract in 2022. His current deal expires in 2027.
This week, it seemed that after months of rumours about the direction of travel, the will-he-won’t-he soap opera surrounding Vinicius’ future might be coming to an end.
Or not…
On Wednesday, several media outlets reported that Vinicius was very close to renewing his Madrid contract until 2030. When contacted by The Athletic, Madrid explained that this was common knowledge and that the two parties have been negotiating for some time.
Yet the player’s entourage strongly deny that a new contract is close. Madrid were not keen to accept the contract proposal suggested by Vinicius a few months ago but his camp say the club are yet to offer a revised one.
With plenty of speculation about what is happening, here is what we are hearing about Vinicius and his future…
Saudi Arabia have been in contact with the player since 2023, when they wanted to sponsor his esports organisation, LOUD.
In March 2024, the direction of the talks changed. There was a meeting in Prague, Czech Republic, between representatives of PIF and Vinicius, with the player participating for a few minutes via video call. According to sources familiar with the process, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, the player was presented with “the biggest contract in the history of sport”.
Months later, in the summer of 2024, Saudi contacted Vinicius’ camp again, and there was at least one face-to-face meeting with his agents in London. They also knocked on Real Madrid’s door for the first time but the club refused to negotiate.
The 24-year-old did not close the door completely on a move to Saudi, but felt it was not the right time to take that step for a number of reasons. One of the main ones was his wish to win the Ballon d’Or, which was awarded at the end of October. As it turned out, Vinicius was runner-up and the award for best footballer in the world was given to the Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri. At the time of his talks with Saudi, Vinicius had been the favourite to win and had felt that leaving Europe could lose him votes.
The player was also excited by his form — he had just won La Liga and his second Champions League, scoring his second goal in a final — and the arrival of Kylian Mbappe to Madrid. He wanted to enjoy being part of a new superteam built by the Madrid president Florentino Perez.
Vinicius has won the Champions League twice with Real Madrid (GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
A source at Madrid’s training base at Valdebebas, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, says he spoke with Vinicius earlier in the 2024-25 season and the forward gave the impression that the offer from Saudi was very appealing to him. The consensus among those around the players and staff at Madrid is that the offer is “unrejectable”, so they believed there was a good chance he will leave the club.
For weeks, Madrid denied there was any interest from Saudi, before admitting that there was but that it didn’t matter because Vinicius would not leave.
There was further contact in December last year, as revealed by The Athletic, this time over the phone. Saudi officials reaffirmed to those around Vinicius that they would try to sign him in the summer of 2025 (not in the January market), with Al Ahli, the team managed by Matthias Jaissle and who have Roberto Firmino and Riyad Mahrez on their books, in mind.
In early January, when Madrid and Barcelona were in Saudi for the Spanish Super Cup, the CEO of the Saudi Pro League, Omar Mugharbel, spoke openly about the possibility of signing Vinicius.
“We have no dreams, it’s a matter of time and negotiating,” Mugharbel told the Spanish newspaper Marca.
“Our clubs have what it takes to attract, develop and nurture such a talent. So let’s wait and see what happens with that (Vinicius),” he told another Spanish paper, AS.
Vinicius himself has used every one of his appearances in public to reiterate that he is a Madrid player and wants to continue making history at the club. In his seven seasons at the club, he has won three league titles, the Champions League twice and the Copa del Rey once (that could become twice on Saturday).
At the end of January, in the week of Madrid’s Champions League match against Red Bull Salzburg, the club called a meeting to open negotiations over the renewal. It was held at Valdebebas and attended by two of Vinicius’ agents and his father, who owns a percentage of the player’s rights.
Madrid offered Vinicius an annual salary worth somewhere between €15million and €20million, very close to the figure of around €17million that he already receives after the completion of various bonuses, including winning FIFA’s The Best award. It is a similar base salary to that of Mbappe, but the France forward is paid more each year because of the signing bonus he agreed when arriving as a free agent from PSG.
The Athletic reported that Vinicius rejected the proposal. Then Madrid asked him to tell them what he wanted and he passed that on to the club. The forward wants a historic contract that is in the region of the highest ever at the club, which was given to Cristiano Ronaldo. This means a package of around €30million per year, which includes his salary, bonuses and a renewal bonus (something that would be a first for Real Madrid).
In February, despite the club having denied to some media that the negotiations were happening, Vinicius spoke about the negotiations after being named man of the match in the Champions League playoff first leg against Manchester City.
“It’s always very exciting to be able to open talks with Real Madrid about my renewal,” he said. “I have a contract until 2027 and I’ve always said that my wish is to play here for a long time and make history (…). God willing, in the next few days I’ll be able to resolve the negotiation.”
Vinicius was referring to a meeting the following week, around the time of the second leg of Madrid’s tie with City. There was no agreement at that meeting, though, and the club explained the difficulties in reaching the figures that Vinicius was asking for.
Interestingly, multiple sources around the club have told The Athletic that if Vinicius were to leave Madrid, then Perez’s No 1 target to replace him would be the City striker Erling Haaland, even though the Norway international signed a contract in January that runs until 2034. Madrid were one of the clubs interested in signing Haaland from Dortmund before he moved to City in 2022 and Perez remains a big fan of the player.
After two months without official contact between the parties, on Wednesday several Spanish media claimed that the renewal until 2030 was very close, and it was just waiting on the final details.
The player’s entourage deny this and insist that the ball is in Madrid’s court. They maintain that they are calm about the situation. Vinicius renewed in 2022 until 2027 because they were sure of his development at the club, and would review new terms before extending beyond that date.
Their perspective is that Madrid have opened talks because they are aware that every window that passes without a renewal reduces the club’s negotiating power, and shifts it in favour of the player. If the board does not increase the offer, they are happy with the current contract and believe that, as time goes on, they will be in an even stronger negotiating position.
Vinicius’ representatives and family were at the Bernabeu for the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Arsenal on April 16, but there was no attempt from Madrid to hold further meetings about the player’s contract while they were in Madrid.
For now, the interest from Saudi has gone quiet, and Vinicius is relaxed about his future. It’s Madrid’s turn to make a move…
(Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)