Vinicius Junior, what’s going on?
Vinicius Junior’s appearance has drastically altered. The cosmetic surgery, ‘chin harmonisation’, has seen his face shape change dramatically, so much so that people have begun to believe he has been replaced by a lookalike.
This narrative is only encouraged when you consider the winger’s poor start to the season – one goal in nine appearances. A low return for someone who considers themselves to be one of the best in the world. The picture only looks darker when it’s compared with Kylian Mbappe’s eight goals in the same amount of time.
In August, it was unclear where he would be playing. Arsenal, aiming to resolve their left-wing issues after the departures of Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Martinelli, were determined to sign the Brazilian, throwing the kitchen sink at sealing his signature.
Boooooo!
Madrid responded by offering him a lucrative new six-year deal, which he, of course, accepted. Yet, despite this show of loyalty, he continues to receive whistles and jeers from his own fans.
Flirting with a move away from the Bernabéu, combined with substandard performance since committing his future, no doubt frustrated some fans, but it doesn’t seem enough to justify the level of distaste there is towards Vinicius from his own fans.
Underneath all the noise, Vinicius still has all the hallmarks of a quintessentially Brazilian footballer: flair, talent, an electric winger, born to entertain, carefree flamboyance, representing one half of El Clásico. What more could you want? With that, though, comes a byproduct of what can be perceived as a God-given gift – ego.
An ego can be beneficial. Cristiano Ronaldo’s career was built on an unrelenting desire to be the best, and for a long time, it was admirable. As goalscoring records tumbled, the perception of his work ethic was that he displayed extreme confidence, motivation, and a drive that no one else had.
However, as we have seen in recent weeks, the line between this and delusion is thin, and one that Ronaldo blurred with his shenanigans during the international break. In his determination to prove that he can still ‘kick it with the kids’, he’s ended up delusional that perhaps Father Time has caught up with him. That’s no slight on Ronaldo; even his current fitness levels are a marvel for a 41-year-old.
With Vinicius, it feels different; his ego comes with an inherent knack for finding varying ways of being disliked.
Ronaldo got away with his ego because of the standard he played at for well over a decade. For a while, Vinicius did the same; three consecutive successful campaigns culminated in him finishing runner-up in the Ballon d’Or rankings in 2024 behind only Rodri. However, he tainted the achievement by refusing to attend the awards upon discovering he hadn’t won.
It’s been a downward slope ever since. He dropped to 16th in this year’s Ballon d’Or rankings, and so far this season has been far below what we expect from him on the pitch, to the point new Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho benched him in favour of 19-year-old Yan Diomande for their match against Villarreal a month ago.
The Ivorian scored the only goal in a 1-0 win. Meanwhile, Vinicius was brought on in the 51st minute, only to be sent off 20 minutes later for pulling the hair of Villarreal midfielder Nathan Saliba.
Play was initially allowed to continue as referee Isidro Díaz de Mera did not see the incident occur, allowing Jude Bellingham to burst down the Madrid left flank and pull back to Vinicius, who slotted home. Consequently, VAR objected to the Brazilian’s actions and not only ruled out his goal, but also issue him his marching orders.
What followed was farcical. In almost sheer disbelief, Vinicius marched towards Díaz de Mera in an aggressive manner and had to be restrained by Antonio Rudiger and four other teammates.
What is his problem with the decision? It’s not particularly clear. The rule is open-and-shut. As per La Liga’s official rules, ‘hair pulling’ is specifically mentioned as ‘violent behaviour’ and warrants a straight red card. And yet, Vinicius sees himself as above the rules, acting like a petulant child who has never been told ‘no’ in their life.
The resultant suspension saw him miss El Clásico. And yet, without the Brazilian, Los Blancos reigned victorious thanks to a brace from Mbappe.
Inserting a manager like Mourinho does him no favours either. Yes, he benched him for the match, but that does little to temper the ego; it only fuels it. A common Mourinho trope is to pick on a player and see how they cope with the pressure.
We’ve seen this be successful in the past – he wouldn’t keep getting employed if it didn’t. At Chelsea, he was famously overheard saying Samuel Eto’o was too old to be his main goalscorer, only for the striker to feed him those words by bending over and holding his back to simulate an old man after scoring against Tottenham the following match.
Years later, at Spurs, he took a similar issue with Tanguy Ndombele, this time citing his fitness as the root cause of his poor performance. And while the Frenchman never set the world alight in a Spurs shirt, the following season, 2020-21, was no doubt his best for the club, earning his spot back in the starting XI and making 46 appearances in all competitions.
Then there’s the flip side. Juan Mata never regained his place after being discarded for a lack of defensive work. Dele Alli’s career fell off a cliff following Mourinho’s tenure in North London, while Luke Shaw was dobbed on constantly at Manchester United.
So, learning from past experience, we see that it’s a blueprint that can go either way. But with Vinicius’s temperament, will he be the next success story or the next victim? The evidence presented so far suggests the latter.
