Why Vinícius Júnior is Key in Kylian Mbappé-Real Madrid Transfer, Reporter Says

The future of Kylian Mbappé at Paris Saint-Germain remains uncertain. The 24-year-old has one more year left on his contract until he becomes a free agent. Mbappé declined to trigger the option in his current agreement to extend until 2025. 

As a result, Mbappé could leave as soon as this summer. With the France international possibly on the market, all eyes are on Real Madrid. Many are waiting to see if they’ll make a move to land the forward. 

CBS Sports reporter Jonathan Johnson appeared on the latest episode of PSG Talking and revealed that if Los Blancos do look to land Mbappé, they’ll have to include a player as part of a transfer deal: Vinícius Júnior.

“I do think there’s a deal to be done with Real Madrid involving Vinícius Júnior as well,” Johnson said. “I think it would be a hard sell for the player, but I do think it would make a lot of sense both for Vinícius Mbappé, Real and PSG to potentially do a deal that sees the two players going opposite directions, which kind of takes a lot of the financial question out of the situation.”

Vinícius isn’t the only player that might entice PSG in a deal for the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner. However, due to both players using up the same space on the pitch, a move for the Brazilian makes sense, and his young age also doesn’t hurt. 

“Vini Jr. is not the only one [that PSG should look at on the Real Madrid squad]; it’s just the most obvious fit,” Johnson continued. “I think, given that both players kind of occupy a similar position as well. Like, if they’re playing out wide, they play sort of more of the left. They can both play through the center as well. 

“I don’t see a Real Madrid that has both Vini Jr. and Mbappé in the team. But we also know from sort of what’s happened, the flare-up with Vini Jr’s situation in La Liga in the last couple of months, that the Premier League would also be a very tempting destination for him.”