Arsenal dealt immediate blow in Vinicius Junior pursuit as Real Madrid take action - report

Arsenal expressed their interest in making a statement signing this summer when news broke that the club were exploring the possibility of bringing Vinicius Junior to the club; however, within a day this pursuit may be over before it could have even begun.

Jose Mourinho made it clear almost immediately after it had been reported that the Gunners were exploring a way to bring the Brazilian star to North London.

Vinicius Junior has been locked in a stalemate with Los Blancos regarding a contract extension, with his current deal set to expire at the end of next season.

Real Madrid would not want to lose one of their stars for free, so they may have been willing to do a deal with Arsenal, even if it meant spending heavily on his wage.

However, it appears that this interest from the Premier League champions has reopened the contract talks between the Brazilian and Real Madrid.

It is being reported by AS Diario that Vinicius Junior will meet with the Real Madrid management to ‘understand firsthand his role in this new project’ under Mourinho.

Another key talking point will be his salary and whether it reflects his status in world football, as it is believed that he is asking for around €20million net per season, which is a €5million increase from the current deal he is on that is set to expire in June 2027.

The report suggests that his intention is to renew his contract at Real Madrid and that Los Blancos want to ensure they tie down one of their star players for a sustained period.

Fans of the La Liga giants will be hopeful a deal can be reached because of how important he has been to them winning their last two Champions League victories, with the Brazilian scoring in both the 2022 and 2024 finals.

Arsenal fans could be in for disappointment

Supporters of the Gunners have understandably begun to get excited about being linked to one of the best forwards in the world, as seen with Vinicius Junior finishing second in the votes for the 2024 Ballon d’Or, only losing out to Rodri.

Mikel Arteta aimed to enhance his squad to help them defend their Premier League title and improve their performance in the Champions League next season, and signing a star like Vinicius Junior would be a fantastic way to achieve that.

While transfer dealings between clubs can break down, several Arsenal fans have convinced themselves it is a done deal due to David Ornstein’s wording in his tweet breaking the news, despite there still being a negotiation needing to take place between Real Madrid and the Gunners before agreeing to a contract with the Brazilian.

Fans have tried to analysis previous tweets that the journalist has posted, linking the word ‘exploring’ to the meaning that it is a done deal due to previous examples including Arsenal.

This included their signings of David Raya and Jorginho, when the pair joined from Brentford and Chelsea, respectively, being tweeted in 2023, with the same happening regarding the signing of Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City when this was tweeted in April 2022 and then this summer with their pursuit and eventual capture of Christos Tzolis.

However, fans were quick to point out some examples of Arsenal failing to capture their targets, and Ornstein had used the word ‘exploring’ in his post.

This list included the failure to capture Douglas Luiz from Aston Villa at the time, with the Brazilian eventually departing for Juventus.

While there were examples given also from tweets he had made with Arsenal chasing deals for other targets in which they would fail to convince the player to move to North London, including Raphinha when he was leaving Leeds United, with the Brazilian eventually joining Barcelona, there was another example that included their pursuit of Karim Benzema and Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid in August 2013 along with not acquiring the signature of Jamie Vardy in June 2016 after an Ornstein tweet.