Ever since Real Madrid’s astonishing €45mn purchase - engineered by the same super agent, Wagner Ribeiro, who took Neymar to Barcelona from Santos – of the 17-year-old was confirmed, Flamengo’s Vinicius Jr. has been under the spotlight both at home and abroad.
Though already much better this year than in the 2017 campaign, the attacker has constantly been outshone by fellow academy graduate Lucas Paquetá, who has put in a series of impressive performances from the heart of midfield since progressing to the senior side and has been compared to former Chelsea and Brazil regular Oscar.
With a few years on Vinicius Junior at 20, Paquetá has already caught the interest of several European suitors such as Juventus, against whom Oscar ironically scored his first-ever Champions League goal in remarkable style in 2012 and was repeatedly linked to as his time at Stamford Bridge drew to a close.
As opposed to Oscar, however, Paquetá boasts impressive work rate that seems him picking up the ball from defenders in his own half and leading his team on a move with his rare range of vision and a series of well-distributed passes that are beginning to result in frequent goals for Vinicus Jr.
In addition to his intelligence, the ability to stroll with the ball at his feet and then accelerate with a blistering burst of pace in the mould of Dennis Bergkamp has also seen Paquetá singled out for praise, while at the same time Flamengo fans have become enamoured with the youngster for demonstrating the kind of passion that more veteran members of the squad seem incapable of.
Locked down in a contract until 2020, it would apparently take the triggering of Paquetá’s €50mn release clause to even bring his representatives and current employers to the bargaining table. Alongside Juventus, who could easily raise funds through the expected sale of Paulo Dybala after the World Cup, other Italian rivals such as Milan and Lazio are also believed to have made their enquiries.
