Vinicius Junior's contract renewal talks have entered their final stretch, as Real Madrid are willing to put pen to paper on a new deal for their Brazilian star this week. Although their intention is to officially announce the deal not later than 10th of July, when the players will return from holidays, the club want to strike a deal even before that.
The only aspect that remains to be agreed is the length of the new deal, with the current one ending in 2024. Real Madrid proposed extending it until 2028, but, as MARCA reported a month ago, Vinicius preferred a slightly shorter length, until 2026 or 2027.
Real Madrid are willing to raise his salary from the current 3.2M Euros, which could reach four million Euros depending on bonuses, to 10M Euros, which would raise should certain objectives be fulfilled. His buyout clause will also skyrocket, from 350m euros to one billion euros. This is the amount set by Real Madrid for their big stars, designed to keep state-owned clubs away from their finest players.
In the case of Vinicius, it is symbolic, given that the former Flamengo forward has never even agreed to listen to offers from various suitors, even when he was at the receiving end of criticism in the past. The Brazil international has made a significant investment by building a new house in Madrid, to which he moved in November 2021, being certain that he would not leave the Spanish capital.
Only three players played more minutes than Vinicius last season, with the Real Madrid star being his team's second-top scorer with 22 goals and 20 assist contributors, including penalties won. The 21-year-old Brazilian who enjoyed this breakthrough season culminating with the victory goal in the UCL Final, stated in anticipation of a contract renewal, that the atmosphere at the Santiago Bernabeu was a critical factor in his growth.
"I will continue in the biggest team in the world," he told Sport TV. "It's the most united team since I arrived. The celebrations were different this year. We all felt something special. Younger people arrived with Rodrygo, [Eder] Militao, [Eduardo] Camavinga and me. Everyone likes each other and that's important. It's the best atmosphere in the world. Everybody wants to be there. The most experienced give us peace of mind and freedom to do what they want."
He added: “This is just the beginning. I have many things to conquer. I hope to have many trophies at the end of my career. It's normal with age [to take time to develop]. I skipped many steps in training. I became a professional when I was 16 years old and still not fully formed. Real represented a huge amount of pressure, but I had the help of [Karim] Benzema, Marcelo and Casemiro, who are very experienced players. I have always been evolving. This season was good, so i hope the next one will be better”
Real president Florentino Perez recently claimed that Vinicius had rejected offers from a number of overseas clubs in order to commit his future to the La Liga champions. He said to El Chiringuito: "Nobody wants to sell Vinicius. I think he's going to win the Ballon d'Or one day, for sure, like [Karim] Benzema is going to this year. I think he will be amazing. We've got no problems with Vinicius' contract extension. We're on it, no issues. He received some proposals but he always said that he only wants to stay at Real Madrid".
The well known sports journalist Fabrizio Romano, revealed earlier (about one week ago) that the deal between Madrid and Vini Jr. will be announced in July and that the release clause will be set at €1bn. He revealed that It’s been claimed Vinicius actually rejected a mammoth offer from Paris Saint-Germain to stay at Real.
Marca have reported that PSG have been in constant communication with Vinicius since December 2021. They were prepared to pay him a salary of €40m-per-year, which equates to €770,000-per-week. That’s 12x higher than his current salary at Los Blancos. It would have made him one of the highest-paid players in world football.
The French giants also offered him a generous sign-on bonus, as well as a number of commercial opportunities in Qatar, during their talks. But however, Vinicius was not swayed and has agreed to stay in Spain, despite Real’s offer being much lower than PSG’s. In fact, PSG’s offer was 4x greater than the one he has apparently agreed with Real (about 10M Euros).
Marca also report that Vinicius was wanted by a number of English clubs. According to Spanish outlet Marca, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool all enquired about Vinicius's availability, only to be swiftly knocked back when learning of his intentions. Vinicius had no intention of moving to the Premier League at this time.
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