Declan Rice, Vinicius Junior, Bukayo Saka (Photos by David Ramos, Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)
Vinicius Junior to Arsenal may be an exciting transfer story, but one has to wonder how realistic it really is considering the finances involved. The Real Madrid forward has just a year left on his current at the Bernabeu, with the Brazilian so far failing to agree terms on a new deal. According to Sky Sports, this is because Vinicius is asking for as much as €30m (£25.6m) a year, which is double what he currently earns.
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Their Spanish football expert Terry Gibson discussed the kind of numbers involved, and cast doubts over whether Arsenal or any Premier League club could realistically afford it.
Real Madrid yet to meet Vinicius Junior’s demands “Vinicius Jr is currently on 15m Euros a year net,” Gibson said. “Real Madrid have offered him 20m Euros. He wants 30m Euros – just over 550,000 Euros a week net. “There’s no budging on the contract from Real Madrid or Vinicius. Real Madrid are looking at a potential replacement in Yan Diomande from RB Leipzig.
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“But when you put those figures in the melting pot, it’s hard to imagine Arsenal or anybody in the Premier League matching those sums of money.”
Arsenal’s highest earners – can they actually afford Vinicius Junior? At the moment, Arsenal’s top earner is Bukayo Saka on £15.6m a year, based on the figures on Spotrac. So if Vini Jr were to join the Gunners and demand the money he’s been asking Real Madrid to give him, he’d be on almost double Saka’s current salary. With Saka being Arsenal’s highest earner, it’s easy to imagine that this kind of deal would not go down well with the star names in the dressing room.
More Read
Player
Annual salary
Bukayo Saka
£15.6m
Kai Havertz
£14.5m
Gabriel Jesus
£13.7m
William Saliba
£13m
Declan Rice
£12.4m
More Read
Martin Odegaard
£12.4m
Viktor Gyokeres
£10.4m
One imagines Arsenal could sell some of their other high earners this summer, with the arrival of Vinicius perhaps meaning that perhaps even a big name like Martin Odegaard could move on. As the table above shows, Gabriel Jesus is also on surprisingly high wages, so would surely be another to move on to help fund a deal for Vini Jr without costing the club too much. But the imbalance with stars like Saka and Rice could surely also risk causing tension in a squad that has grown well together in recent years.
