Carlo Ancelotti said Vinícius Júnior is focused on “choosing glory” with Real Madrid over pursuing a lucrative move to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, ahead of Madrid’s crunch Champions League tie with Brest.
ESPN reported earlier this month that the Saudis retain an interest in signing the Brazil international, and made contact with his representatives in December, after making an initial approach last summer.
The newspaper Diario AS reported on Monday that the Saudis would be willing to offer Vinicius a five-year contract worth €200 million per season, as well as a €300 million transfer fee, although the player’s contract at Madrid contains a €1 billion release clause.
“I understand everything in football,” Ancelotti said in his pre-match news conference on Tuesday, when asked if he’d understand Vinícius opting for a move to the Saudi Pro League. “I understood Toni Kroos retiring from football [last summer]. Not many people understood it, but I did. I understand everything.”
Vinicius did not reject the Saudi approach last summer — although there were no formal talks and no concrete offer was made for the player — and postponed any decision on his long-term future until the summer of 2025.
“They’re individual decisions,” Ancelotti said. “But to me, the player [Vinicius] looks happy and excited about staying here and winning trophies with Real Madrid. I think he’s thinking about choosing glory.”
Reigning champions Madrid go into the game with Brest in 16th place in the Champions League table on 12 points — the same total as four other teams including Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund — still with an outside chance of making the top eight, and assured of a place in the playoffs.
“We’ll be focused on our game,” Ancelotti said, when asked if he’d be keeping an eye on the scores elsewhere on Wednesday. “The objective is to win, to be as high as possible in the table. Then we’ll have the [playoff] draw and let’s see what happens.”
“The important thing is to win our game and we’ll see,” goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois agreed. “I can’t speculate, there are so many games. We’ll see when it’s over. [Finishing in the top eight] isn’t about tomorrow, it’s about the other games we lost, but we’ll give everything to finish as high as possible, and then we’ll see what route we’ll take.”
In-form Madrid forward Kylian Mbappé goes into the Brest game having scored eight goals in his last five appearances.
“Kylian is one of the best in the world, and we’re lucky to have a lot of them in our team,” Courtois said. “Jude [Bellingham], Vini, even Rodrygo with his form the other day. They’re among the best players in the world.
“We’ve faced Kylian often, and he’s a great forward. It’s better to have them with us than against us.”
