Vinicius Jr signs new six-year deal at Real Madrid: Arsenal miss out on key transfer target after breakthrough in contract talks

Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr has put pen to paper on a new six-year deal at Real Madrid, leaving Arsenal, who had hopes of signing him, disappointed.

The star has been offered improved terms in excess of £19million a year after stalling in contract negotiations, and that offer has been enough for him to commit his long-term future to the club.

Talks between the player’s agents, general director Jose Angel Sanchez and chief scout Juni Calafat took place in Madrid on Wednesday. Jose Mourinho also underlined that the 26-year-old is also firmly in his plans.

Despite the increased confidence at the Bernabeu, the player added to the uncertainty on Wednesday night by deleting his entire Instagram history.  Vinicius’ page, which has 63.9million followers, currently displays no images or bio and he’s also removed his profile picture. 

But he has now committed his long-term future to the club, despite being open to a move to the Premier League champions if he could not agree terms.

The Gunners made initial enquiries into the player last week, with manager Mikel Arteta insisting that the Premier League winners will be ‘very ambitious’ during the summer’s transfer window. 

Mikel Arteta’s side were hopeful of agreeing a deal if there was no breakthrough in contract talks between club and player

But reports on Wednesday suggested Madrid were bullish about their chances of seeing off interest from north London – particularly with Mourinho’s backing. 

One of the major sticking points in negotiations between Real and Vinicius’ camp has been the re-signing fee. Talks have been ongoing for 18 months.

But the latest increase in their offer left Real confident that Vinicius Jr will commit his future to the Spanish giants. 

Real did not want to lose the Brazilian on a free, with his contract set to expire in less than a year. 

The player was thought to view any contract he signs with Los Blancos, where he has played since 2018, as the defining deal of his career – and recognition of his efforts for the club that in recent seasons have seen him become a Ballon d’Or contender in their colours. 

Vinicius returned to join his team-mates at their pre-season camp on Monday to undergo the standard start-of-season medical tests and train for the first time under new manager Mourinho. 

Arteta meanwhile has remained upbeat about his plans for the rest of the window, following the £34million signing of Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge. 

‘We expect to have movements in the next few weeks, obviously,’ Arteta said following Arsenal’s pre-season friendly against Girona. 

‘We want to get better like anybody else, and you can see the transfer market and our opponents… We won’t sit still and we are very ambitious with what we are doing.

‘The margins are very small. Because we want to get better and the level is going to increase.

‘We need to increase the competition internally. We need to make sure we identify the things that we don’t have in the team.’