It has been five years since Vinicius Junior left Flamengo, a great team in Brazil, to play for Real Madrid, a huge team in Spain. The young player may have changed football on both sides of the Atlantic in those five years.
He affected Europe. Vinicius is one of the best attackers in the world. He has scored 59 goals and set up 64 others in 225 games, mixing lightning-fast speed with smart changes of rhythm and an ever-improving end product, both in terms of passes and goals. He is the worst player for defenders, and his goal against Liverpool in the 2022 Champions League final turned the game in Real’s favor.
The “Vinicius effect” is not as clear in Brazil, but it is still very strong. First, he changed how the transfer market works. Real decided to pay about €45 million to sign a 16-year-old player who had never played in a professional game. This seemed like a crаzy amount of money to spend to make up for losing out on previous superstars.
His move fee was a good deal in retrospect. Following his success, European teams have become more eager to sign South American talents as soon as possible.
The people from Vinicius’ old club are the best at this game. His progress set a standard that has led to success. He left Flamengo when he was 18 years old. The club had won two national titles in the previous ten years: the domestic cup in 2013 and a surprise league win four years before that. After that, they won the Copa Libertadores in both 2019 and 2022 and also won the league title in 2019 and 2020.
Outside of Europe, Flamengo looks like it will soon be the biggest club in the world. Vinicius has a lot to do with this. His move, along with those of players like Lucas Paqueta, brought in the money that could be used to buy players who had not lived up to expectations in Europe but could be game-changers in Brazil.
Gabriel Barbosa, a striker signed from Internazionale, is a symbol of the club’s recent success. He would not have been able to be bought without the money from the Vinicius deal.
Vinicius can feel the link. During his summer break, he was seen cheering on his old team at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium. Likely, watching Flamengo brought back memories, and not all of them were good. Football in Brazil can be rough on its players. Building up stars to bring them crashing down has always been a part of the culture there. There had to be a response to the transfer fee and all the talk about Vinicius before he had a chance to do much at the top level.
During his time with Flamengo and before he proved himself with Real Madrid, it was common to see Vinicius compared to Negueba, a Brazilian player who had been declared a disappointment. Negueba began his senior career with Flamengo in 2010 and played nearly 100 games before moving on to other clubs and later to South Korea. Negueba was harshly singled out by some as a lightweight, unproductive winger.
The comparisons between Negueba and Vinicius, who are both Black, might well have had racial undertones. Negueba was a nickname, a term seen by some as a racial pejorative. Vinicius was dubbed “Neguebinha,” or little Negueba, clearly a term intended to diminish him.
Vinicius also faced social barriers before he moved to Spain. In his home neighborhood of Sao Goncalo, across Guanabara Bay from Rio, he has set up an educational institute for local kids that includes an Afro-Brazilian perspective in the learning process.
The institute sees education as a tool for transformation — and its founder is transforming Spain. Vinicius’ refusal to back down in the face of racism, as evidenced by several instances this past season of racist actions toward him, is forcing Spain to confront the depth of the social problem.
If Vinicius never kicks another ball, he already has played a hugely significant role on and off the field. But he still has plenty of time left to compete, and now comes a phase when the challenges get even more fascinating. He’ll now wear No. 7 for Madrid — a confirmation of the extra responsibility he bears. He made his nаme as the junior partner in the attacking combination with Karim Benzema, who previously wore that number. The French player has moved on, and Vinicius has moved up the pecking order.
A similar dynamic will probably take place on the national team. Vinicius was essentially a late addition to Brazil’s World Cup starting lineup, an extra on Neymar’s team. This is not the way that things will be organized in the future. Brazil can be expected to build their side in a way aimed at getting the best out of Vinicius Junior — meaning that if his first five years in Europe have outstripped expectations, the next five promise to be extraordinary.