{"id":645652,"date":"2026-08-19T15:39:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T15:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/645652\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T15:39:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T15:39:24","slug":"real-madrid-mourinho-reveals-how-he-convinced-vinicius-junior-to-shun-arsenal-and-extend-bernabeu-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/645652\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Madrid: Mourinho reveals how he convinced Vinicius Junior to shun Arsenal and extend Bernabeu stay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jose Mourinho has revealed the conversation he had with Vinicius Junior that helped the Brazilian forward decide to extend his stay with Real Madrid this summer, amid strong Arsenal<\/a> interest.<\/p>\n

The electric winger had entered into the final 12 months of his previous deal at the Santiago Bernabeu, meaning he would have been able to depart the LaLiga giants on a free transfer at the end of the 2026\/27 campaign.<\/p>\n

Given that state of play, Arsenal were alerted to the potential of a spectacular signing coup and initially made contact with Vinicius<\/strong><\/a>\u2018 camp over the winter after a second round of contract talks between the player and Real had collapsed.<\/p>\n

With little having changed as the months wore on, the reigning Premier League champions had high hopes of securing a deal for the Real superstar up until a fortnight ago.<\/p>\n

READ: Liverpool \u2018offer\u2019 \u00a356m for Real Madrid star who will be next signing after Bradley Barcola<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

However, the return of Mourinho as manager appeared to work wonders for Real Madrid<\/strong><\/a> as Vinicius went on to sign a six-year deal with Los Blancos, tying him to the Spanish giants until 2026.<\/p>\n

Vinicius made his return for Madrid during the pre-season clash with Deportivo La Coruna last week, leaving Arsenal<\/strong><\/a> to contemplate moves for other targets instead.<\/p>\n

And, in a wide-ranging interview with El Chiringuito\u2019s Josep Pedrerol<\/a>, Mourinho<\/strong><\/a> opened up on his role in managing to convince Vinicius to snub a move to London and remain in Madrid instead.<\/p>\n

Asked if Vinicius\u2019 renewal was solely down to him, Mourinho replied: \u201cNo\u2026 what? Because of me?<\/p>\n

Pressed on whether he spoke to the attacker about staying in Madrid, the Portuguese tactician responded: \u201cObviously I talked to him, but Vinicius has fallen in love with Real Madrid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing I told him was: \u2018Vini, where do you want to go? You\u2019ve only been in Brazil and you only know Real Madrid\u2026 You only understand Real Madrid when you leave. When you leave\u2026 that\u2019s when you realise what Real Madrid is. Don\u2019t leave. It\u2019s not worth it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what he has felt in terms of the group\u2019s growth, the way we\u2019ve been working and developing, has given him a very important feeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cVinicius is another machine \u2013 it\u2019s a pleasure to watch him work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of quality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arsenal star tipped for Real Madrid switch<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, journalist Alex Crook insists he \u201cwouldn\u2019t rule out\u201d Martin Zubimendi leaving Arsenal to sign for Real Madrid before the transfer deadline.<\/p>\n

The Spain international enjoyed an outstanding first half of the campaign in north London, but his form faded badly after Christmas and led to speculation that the Gunners could try and cash in on a player who Real had eyes on before he moved to England.<\/p>\n

And Crook thinks Arsenal could look to part ways with Zubimendi in order to raise funds for further additions to Arteta\u2019s squad, with the player primed for Real after they missed out on Rodri to bitter rivals Barcelona<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Who is the top scorer of 2026? Harry Kane running away with the title<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Crook said on\u00a0talkSPORT<\/a>: \u201cThey need to sell somebody, if you look at the absentees from the squad [in the Community Shield] \u2013 no Gabriel Martinelli, no Gabriel Jesus\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re in this luxurious position where they\u2019ve got at least two players for every position, they\u2019ve almost got too many players.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t rule out Zubimendi going to Real Madrid.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jose Mourinho has revealed the conversation he had with Vinicius Junior that helped the Brazilian forward decide to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[2725,9,10,18,13,14,793,6,19,17,38492,11,12,15,16,5,795,5134,4335,7,8,87112],"class_list":["post-645652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-arsenal","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-front-page","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jose-mourinho","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-premier-league","tag-real-madrid","tag-soccer","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-vinicius-junior"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117122928930976557","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}