Saudi Arabia raises the alarm, Vinícius's signing is more than likely: 'It's the plan'

Real Madrid keeps working on resolving all the sagas it still has pending for the current transfer market. In addition to the desired signings, which seem to have stalled after the arrival of Álvaro Carreras, the executives led by Florentino Pérez are also processing other important operations.

Not only do the departures from Santiago Bernabéu locker room deserve the attention of the Madrid sporting management: renewals do as well. In that regard, the most frequently mentioned name is Vinícius Jr. The situation surrounding the first team's number "7" verdeamarelo has become much more complicated than it seems.

The difficulties the club's leadership has encountered in extending his stay in Santiago Bernabéu locker room aren't exclusively related to the 2024 Ballon d'Or. Vinícius's unexpected defeat in that award organized by UEFA and France Football is, for many, the point at which everything changed in the 24/25 season.

Since then, his performance has decreased considerably: not even Xabi Alonso, during the Club World Cup, has managed to redirect the São Gonçalo striker. Given his very discreet performances, the Valdebebas offices are truly surprised. They don't understand why Vinícius is asking to match his salary to Kylian Mbappé's.

Still under the spotlight

That's why they have rejected that request, based on two reasons. The first is his performance, which doesn't meet the expectations that the South American footballer should generate. The second reason is to keep the balance in the wage scale, already irreversibly altered with the arrival of the French footballer.

Amid these discussions, an offer from Saudi Arabia appears from time to time: the latest was valued at 350 million euros. Ramón Planes, sporting director of Al-Ittihad, points out that the Madrid player "fits within the idea and the plan of being one of the most powerful leagues in the world" right now. This executive believes that the Brazilian footballer "has everything in his favor" to join the Saudi Pro League.

"If you analyze the profile of the player who comes, even in our team, last summer we made a lot of moves and we were market agitators", he warns. The Saudi Pro League is starting to focus on footballers "in good moments of their sporting careers" as part of a plan to position itself as a global competitive benchmark. "I don't rule it out at all", Planes says about Vinícius's signing.

It's no coincidence that the Real Madrid footballer would be included in the "plan" to position the Arab league as one of the most prominent on the international scene. "Vinícius surely has all the conditions to join this League", says Ramón Planes, sporting director of Al-Ittihad, about the team change of the current Madrid star.