Mourinho's Message to Vinicius Jr: Stay with Real Madrid
Jose Mourinho has revealed the blunt message he delivered to Vinicius Jr as Real Madrid fought to keep one of their biggest stars out of the transfer market’s reach.
The 26-year-old winger had entered the final year of his deal at the Bernabeu, opening the door to a free transfer next summer and alerting Arsenal, who closely monitored the situation as talks dragged on. Instead, earlier this month Vinicius signed a six-year contract, tying his prime years to Madrid.
Mourinho, back at Real for a second spell after his return was confirmed in June, says he went straight to the point with the Brazilian.
“Vinicius has fallen in love with Real Madrid,” he told Spanish TV show El Chiringuito.
“The only thing I told him was: ‘Vini, where do you want to go? You’ve only been in Brazil and you only know Real Madrid. You only understand Real Madrid when you leave. When you leave that’s when you realise what Real Madrid is. Don’t leave. It’s not worth it.’”
For Mourinho, it was about more than sentiment. He believes the environment around the forward has shifted.
“I think what he has felt in terms of the group’s growth, the way we’ve been working and developing, has given him a very important feeling,” the 63-year-old added.
Mourinho’s relationship with Vinicius has not always been framed in such warm tones. Last season, while in charge of Benfica, he faced Real three times in the Champions League. Their second meeting – the first leg of the knockout phase play-off – was overshadowed by a flashpoint involving Gianluca Prestianni.
Real players alleged that the Benfica youngster racially abused Vinicius, prompting the match to be halted for around eight minutes. Prestianni denied the accusations. Mourinho, then his coach, publicly backed his player.
Uefa later handed Prestianni a three-match ban, with a further three suspended, for homophobic conduct.
Looking back on that night, Mourinho drew a clear line between his duty as a coach and his current stance alongside Vinicius.
“Prestianni was my player. That’s it. There’s no debate,” he said. “If Prestianni is my player, 20 players can come at me and I’m still with Prestianni. End of story.”
The dynamic has changed now that Mourinho is in the Madrid dugout and Vinicius is central to his project.
“I think Vini now knows what side I am now on and knows he can look me in the eye and rely on me to be on his side,” Mourinho said.
Real have their winger locked down. Mourinho has his talisman. The real question is what they do with that alliance over the next six seasons.
