Vinícius Júnior signed a contract extension through 2032 barely a fortnight ago, but his first La Liga outing of the new season has reopened the argument he thought he had closed. Santi Cañizares, the former Real Madrid goalkeeper, used his slot on Cope radio to deliver one of the harshest verdicts yet on the winger's standing in the game.
"Nadie lo quiere, nadie quiere un jugador así en su club, y yo creo que no ha tenido ninguna oferta" — nobody wants him, nobody wants a player like that at their club, and I don't believe he's had a single offer, Cañizares said, arguing that Madrid's hand was forced rather than freely played.
His central claim was blunt: with only a year left on Vinícius's previous deal, Real Madrid had no real leverage in the negotiation because, in his view, no rival club or agent had come calling. "Since Real Madrid has been in need and obligated to renew his contract, because surely no other team has even contacted him or his agent, because nobody wants a player with these characteristics," he said, before adding, semi-mockingly, that perhaps "a smaller team like Newcastle" could have taken him on.
The timing gave the comments extra bite. Real Madrid had just opened José Mourinho's second spell in charge with a 2-1 win at Espanyol, a night Vinícius overshadowed for the wrong reasons after twice going down in the box appealing for fouls that Spanish media widely judged to be exaggerated or non-existent.
Espanyol's own social media account joined the pile-on, posting sarcastically that fans were asking "how many swimming pools does it take to get a second yellow card" — a jab at the diving accusations that dominated the post-match conversation more than the result itself.
Mourinho pushed back hard in the other direction. "Vini no es un santo, pero lo que le hacen es demasiado" — Vini is no saint, but what they do to him is too much, the coach said, pointing out that his forward absorbed eight fouls in the match, more than anyone else on the pitch, and framing the reaction as part of a pattern of provocation that follows the Brazilian from stadium to stadium.
Cañizares's framing cuts against that defence. Rather than addressing the specific incidents at Cortalts, he used them as a springboard to question Vinícius's broader market value, suggesting the new deal reflects Madrid's lack of alternatives rather than a vote of confidence from the club or the wider game.
The renewal itself, agreed earlier this month after negotiations that reportedly dragged on for more than a year, saw Madrid improve their offer without meeting every demand the player's camp had made. It ties one of the club's most talismanic — and most polarising — attackers to the Bernabéu for the rest of the decade.
