When you’re Real Madrid, money is no object. Beating Barcelona, on the other hand — that’s priceless.
The current Neymar, of course, has attained superstar status with Barcelona after the club spent roughly $64 million in 2013 to bring him over from Brazil (that figure, and much else about the circumstances of his transfer from Santos, are at the heart of an ongoing corruption case in which Neymar has been ordered to stand trial). The difference is that Neymar was 21 at the time and had established himself as a star for Santos’s top squad, not to mention the Brazilian national team.
Vinícius, on the other hand, has only recently, and briefly, played with the senior team for his club, Flamengo. His international experience consists of appearance’s with Brazil’s under-17 squad last year and, before that, its under-15 team. In fact, per FIFA rules, he can’t transfer to Madrid until July 2018, when he turns 18, so the club structured its deal with Flamengo to take effect at that point.
The announced arrangement actually calls for Vinícius to remain with Flamengo until 2019, but he may play for Madrid sooner than that if both clubs agree to it. In the meantime, Madrid can only hope that he continues to develop into a player worth the mammoth investment.
It’s not hard to see what all the fuss is about. As he has progressed through the youth levels, Vinícius has dominated the competition, scoring 25 goals in 28 international appearances while leading Brazil to the U-15 and U-17 crowns.
Described by Madrid as a “skillful, pacy attacker,” Vinícius does, indeed, conjure visions of Neymar — but with a sturdier physique — with his dribbling, passing and shooting abilities. Here is a lengthy highlight package:
Barcelona was reportedly hot on the trail of Vinícius, so Madrid may have felt like it needed to pull out all the stops to foil their archrival and land a top prospect from a country known for producing magical talents. The boot was on the other foot four years ago, when Madrid could only watch in frustration as Barça outmaneuvered it for the rights to Neymar (although, as mentioned, that deal is the subject of legal wrangling that could, conceivably, land the superstar in prison).
Forbes ranked Madrid as the second-most valuable sports team in the world for 2016 (behind the Dallas Cowboys), and the club reported nearly $700 million in revenue from last year, so it can afford to splash some cash, or in this case, a huge amount of cash. It remains to be seen how Vinícius pans out, but in the short term, his acquisition counts as a win over Barcelona, so as far as Madrid is concerned, the deal is already beginning to pay for itself.
(H/T Deadspin)
