Vincius Jnior to Arsenal doesnt make sense. Thats why it may work
Mikel Arteta, Vincius Jnior and Jos Mourinho.Composite: Getty ImagesSometimes what is needed is something different.There is a long history in football of counterintuitive thinking being successful, of the benefits of creative tension, of adding grit to the oyster to generate the pearl, but even so, the news that talks between Vincius Jnior and Arsenal on personal terms are progressing comes as something of a shock. Mikel Artetas great followers of a blueprint adding a free spirit like the Brazilian? Really?Vincius returns to Real Madrid this week after the World Cup with movement on his future expected relatively soon. He has 12 months remaining on his contract and Madrid are keen either to tie him down to a new deal or to sell him while he will attract at least some kind of fee. As their squad rebuild goes on under Jos Mourinho, Madrids position is readily understandable. They have already signed Bernardo Silva, Denzel Dumfries, Marc Cucurella and Ibrahima Konat this summer; removing Vinciuss 420,000 a week (about $30m/year) basic wages significantly increases their financial headroom.Related: The five big beasts are gone: who will be the Premier Leagues next alpha manager? | Jonathan WilsonTheres been a sense since Kylian Mbapp joined Madrid two years ago that having him and Vincius together left the squad unbalanced. Why would you need two rapid forwards who both prefer to cut in from the left, particularly when Rodrygo, who tended to be consigned to the right before tearing his ACL in March, would also prefer to play from the left? Yan Diomand is likely to confirm his move to Real Madrid from RB Leipzig this week. Although the Ivorian has said he would rather play on the right, he too has spent much of his career on the left.More broadly, Vincius does not seem a natural Mourinho player. His pace and technical excellence are undoubted, but he has never been the most diligent at fulfilling his defensive responsibilities. Mourinho likes a forward who can improvise, and worked successfully with Cristiano Ronaldo at Madrid, but its difficult to see how he could indulge more than one such player at a time, and Mbapp will take precedence.But those concerns about tracking, about the willingness to stick to a gameplan, about the capacity to retain possession are just as relevant to Arteta as they are to Mourinho arguably more so, as Arteta believes far more in structured attacking planning than Mourinho. Is Vincius, after years of freedom at Madrid, really going to accept those rigid structures?Its been fairly clear since the second half of last season that Arsenal would be looking to strengthen their left side. The sale of Leandro Trossard to Beikta did not come as a huge surprise. The 31-year-old is reliable and played a valuable role last season, starting 21 of the 38 league games and coming off the bench on a further 10 occasions, but there is not much stardust about him. Gabriel Martinelli started 11 league games and came off the bench 19 times, and his pace can be a great asset, but its no longer clear that he is at his best on the left. The signing of Eberechi Eze last summer looked like an attempt to add creativity from that flank but his tendency to drift infield when Arteta needs his left-sided forward to stay wide meant that by the end of the season he tended to be used centrally behind a striker.Vincius would give Arsenal greater attacking thrust. At his best, under Carlo Ancelotti, he could transform a game in seconds. His pace, dribbling ability and finishing mean that no matter how stale a game seems to have gone, no matter how under pressure his team may be, they are never more than seven or eight seconds from a potential goal. Its easy to see why Arsenal are tempted by him. He would immediately be their highest-profile player, adding a sense of direction to a summer that, at least from a recruitment point of view, has seemed to be drifting. Arsenal missed out on Morgan Rogers, who joined Chelsea, while Julin lvarez, who would seem a much more natural fit on the Arsenal left, appears more likely to go to Barcelona, if sufficient financial levers can be pulled.But the fact Vincius is not a natural fit may be part of the attraction. It was, after all, the season after signing Erling Haaland, far from a typical Pep Guardiola player, that Manchester City won the treble. A player who does not quite fit, who kicks against the general philosophy, can make a process team less predictable. The friction can produce valuable sparks.Haaland, its fair to say, is a different personality from Vincius and, as a center-forward, there was never a worry he was going to leave his full-back exposed. Vincius is a bigger risk. He would certainly be an expensive one, not just in terms of his own salary but the inflationary pressure that could have on wages at the club more generally.But he would also add a dash Arsenal have lacked that would make the accusation of being dead-ball plodders hard to sustain. And with Trossard gone, there is a left-sided hole that needs filling.This is an extract from Soccer Desk, a newsletter from the Guardian. Subscribe for free here.
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