It is almost certain that Kylian Mbappe will finally join Real Madrid this summer. Although nothing has been revealed yet, the expectation is that some sort of announcement will arrive before the end of the season – the 24-year-old has already notified Paris Saint-Germain that he will leave when his contract expires in June.
One of the big dynamics that people have focused on in regards to Mbappe’s probable move to Los Blancos is how he will play alongside Vinicius Junior, another of the best players in the world. They both tend to operate on the left side, which could cause issues with how they are utilised.
French football expert Jonathan Johnson has told CaughtOffside that he does not expect this to work out in the long run, which could cause Vinicius to leave Real Madrid at some stage.
“There have been some reports linking Vinicius Junior with PSG and I’ve always said since the beginning that I could see there being a logical way for Real Madrid and PSG to potentially do business for Mbappe (while he was under contract) by essentially swapping Vinicius and Mbappe to take money out of the equation.
“I don’t think that’s Real Madrid’s intention for the moment, however, I think Los Blancos want to combine the two players. It could be at some point, though, because of the position they both play on the pitch, that some kind of clash becomes inevitable. There won’t necessarily be tension, but there might be a conflict of interests between the two as they’ll both want the same spot in the starting XI.
“If Vinicius were to become available at any point, I think PSG would be very interested, but I don’t think they’d want him in a scenario where they’d have to pay for Vinicius, having lost Mbappe on a free transfer. I think PSG would prefer an exchange, but obviously at this moment in time that doesn’t look likely with Mbappe’s contract expiring, and it doesn’t seem like Vini Jr’s star is on the wane at Real Madrid, certainly not enough for him to be used in an exchange deal.
“I don’t think (Vinicius joining PSG) is an unrealistic prospect at some point in the future, but for the moment nothing is happening – it doesn’t seem like the scenario is going to open itself up. That could change, but I don’t think this one is on the cards at all imminently.”
