“I only had three days to decide whether to sign for Madrid or Barça”

On March 1, Vinicius faced Barça at the Bernabéu and scored his first goal. Somewhat paved the way for Real Madrid to win (2-0), but the story could have been different. The Brazilian, 16 years old, had a pre-agreement with the Catalan club that was broken when Madrid appeared on the scene. The player remembered those days in the magazine FourFourTwo, in an interview that will be published in the April edition but of which there is already a preview on its website. The signing of Vinicius by the Concha Espina club began to cook in 2017, in the South American U-17. “It was just after coming back from the South American in Chile. There were already rumors in the press, but I never believed them. Both Real Madrid and Barcelona put offers on the table and I only had three days to make my decision. I always wanted to play for the best club, so that's why I chose Real. “

Barça had him tied up. He even used Neymar, who telephoned the young man to persuade him to wear the Barça shirt. But a week after reaching that preliminary agreement, Wagner Ribeiro, a well-known representative at the Bernabéu offices and a partner of TFM, Vinicius's agency, offered it to Madrid. The pulse ended with the Brazilian from Flamengo dressed in white for 45 million. “My parents visited both clubs and they liked it more. It combined what I wanted, and I felt that their project was better for me. I saw that they gave many minutes to younger players, like me, and they were having an outstanding moment of success in the Champions League at the time. “

But the transfer to Madrid, at just 18 years old, was not easy for Vini. The 45 million euros it cost were a backpack that took time to take off. “I had to make everyone forget about the price. It was one of the hardest parts, more than just playing regularly.“recalls the attacker. For that, playing continuously, he also had to row upstream. He came to a team in which his coach, Julen Lopetegui, did not consider him an immediate performance asset.” He lacks cooking, “said the Vinicius himself, upon learning about Lopetegui's plans, who offered to play for Castilla in Second B. With the subsidiary, he scored four goals in 428 minutes, in which he showed glimpses of future crack. He left with his team. But Lopetegui kept him in the train. The firing of the Spaniard and the arrival of Solari opened the sky for him. The Argentine embraced Vini as a solution to a gray season and responded, although with more daring and impudence that I succeed. With Lopetegui he played only 42 minutes in two games (without goals or goals); with Solari, 2,038 in 31 games (seven goals and 13 assists). “Fortunately, I played many games in my first season. Now I have passed 50 games with Real Madrid: few players succeed at such a young age …” Now, after an irregular start with Zidane, he has once again become Madrid's hope.