Vinicius Jose Paixao de Oliveira Junior (born 12 July 2000), commonly known as Vinicius Junior or Vini Jr., is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a winger for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Brazil national team. Considered as one of the best players in the world, he is known for his dribbling skills, high pace and shooting.
Born in Sao Gonçalo, Vinicius began his professional career at Flamengo, where he made his senior debut in 2017, at age 16. A few weeks later, Vinicius was the subject of a transfer to La Liga club Real Madrid, for whom he signed for in a £38 million deal, which was a national record for an U-18 player. The transfer was made effective after his 18th birthday, with Vinicius debuting for the club in 2018–19. By his fourth season, Vinicius established himself as a prominent member in Real Madrid's squad, helping the club win the 2021–22 La Liga title and scoring the winning goal in Real Madrid's 2022 UEFA Champions League Final win.
Shortly after his arrival at Real Madrid in July 2018, ESPN journalist Dermot Corrigan described Vinicius as a "zippy left winger or second striker". He is a player of great quality". A versatile player, although he is usually deployed on the left flank, he is capable of playing anywhere along the front line, and has also been used on the right or in the centre. Possessing explosive acceleration, and excellent pace, agility, balance, technique, flair, dribbling skills, and close control at speed, as well as significant power, physical strength, and trickery on the ball, despite his slender build, he is known for his movement, energy, ability to run at defences, change direction quickly, and beat opponents in one on one situations while in possession of the ball.
Regarded as a promising young player, he is considered to be a diminutive, dynamic, intelligent, hard-working, and nimble winger, with a low centre of gravity, as well as impressive passing and awareness. Moreover, he is known in for his eye for the final ball, and ability to provide assists to teammates; although he is also capable of scoring goals himself, his shooting and goalscoring have been cited by pundits as areas in need of improvement, as his lack of end product was often a source of criticism in the media in his first few seasons at Real Madrid. In June 2017, Vinicius appeared at 39th place on The Telegraph's list of the best under-21 players in the world. He was the only player playing in South America at the time to appear on the list. In November 2018, former Argentina international frontman Jose Luis Calderón credited Vinicius' "general enthusiasm, his ability to make things happen, the joy and good vibrations he transmits, his speed, the fact he's different and the fact he's daring. To sum up, he has a spark that could be used by a team that has been plain in recent matches". In his youth with Flamengo, he was critcised, however, by several football figures, fans, and the press for "doing too many tricks," and for "[t]oo much individualism, not enough teamwork."
During the 2021–22 season, Vinicius had a breakthrough season with Real Madrid, and his goalscoring and assist output increased dramatically, enabling him to form an effective offensive partnership from the left wing with striker Karim Benzema. Regarding his change in form, Vinicus commented in December 2021: "I think I've improved in many things, but above all in my calmness in my play, I'm doing things with more tranquillity and more quality too." The club's manager Carlo Ancelotti also praised him for his defensive work-rate and positioning, in addition to his creative abilities and talent, noting that he was able to improve upon his tactical knowledge and physical condition throughout the course of the season, as well as his finishing. His performances led the Spanish press to compare him to compatriot Neymar. Following his goal in Real Madrid's victory in the 2022 Champions League final, Neymar himself described Vinicius as "the best player in the world." Later that month, Ed McCambridge of FourFourTwo ranked Vinicius as the second–best left winger in the world. |
