Vinicius Junior has to stop pulling Eden Hazards on Real Madrid
Real Madrid left winger Vinicius Junior almost left the club this summer transfer window with Mikel Arteta and Arsenal incredibly interested in making the Brazilian international the new face of the Premier League.
But Jose Mourinho pushed for Vinicius Jr. to stay, and Real Madrid were able to agree to terms on a new contract, compromising on some of the demands that they could not acquiesce to based on the benefits Vini wanted from Kylian Mbappe's massive free agent contract.
Vinicius is not out of the woods, though, because Mourinho and Real Madrid are going to demand a lot more from him this season. Although Vinicius has been crucial to two Champions League titles and is already an icon at the club, you would have expected him to grow more and more from his successes in 2021/22 and 2023/24.
Vinicius Jr. doesn't show up to play every game
But ever since throwing a tantrum about not winning a Ballon d'Or he didn't deserve - Real Madrid fans should have fought harder for Jude Bellingham or even Toni Kroos, honestly - Vinicius Jr. has not grown. He hasn't been bad by any means, but he has been closer to "good" than "great" and certainly nowhere near the Ballon d'Or level.
At the crux of Vinicius Jr.'s is that there are too many games in which he is flat out terrible for him to be considered the best in the world - or even in the top three right now and maybe not even in the top five any longer.
Real Madrid are watching Vinicius do some of the things on the pitch that made them frustrated with Eden Hazard. He has games where he works incredibly hard on defense to win the ball, but then he will also have matches in which he walks around the pitch like he doesn't care. Vinicius is not a lazy player, but he acts lazy in some matches, turning his head off and hurting the whole team on that wing by not doing his part.
He is a player who takes his fitness seriously most of the time, but then you will watch games where, again, he is walking around the pitch and struggling, looking like a player who hasn't run in months. It's indefensible, and even Vini's biggest supporters at Real Madrid who have watched him grow up are realizing that it is not good for the club if both Vini and Kylian Mbappe are playing like this.
Vinicius Jr. took over after Eden Hazard flopped badly as a transfer and became the face on the left wing, but as his stature has grown, he is lazing around and not taking some games seriously like Hazard would. Real Madrid can't afford this to be a trend that continues in the 2026/27 season under Jose Mourinho.
