Jamie Carragher does not sound convinced by the Vinícius Júnior to Arsenal noise. He said the links are more likely to be about a new Real Madrid contract, with Vinicius having 12 months remaining on his deal and Arsenal reportedly approved to make him the highest-paid player in Premier League history.

Carragher's take on the transfer talk

"I just can't see it happening," Carragher told metro.co.uk. He was even blunter on the motive behind the speculation: "He's surely doing it to get a new contract at Real Madrid."

That is the central issue here. The Madrid side of the story is still alive, and the reported Arsenal interest has not been presented as a done deal by anyone in the reporting around it.

There is also a separate money picture. TEAMtalk said the proposed package would give Vinicius a base salary in excess of £400,000 a week, while other reports have put Madrid's offer around €22 million a year and Vinicius' ask at around €30 million.

Why Carragher still doubts Arsenal's ceiling

Carragher's bigger point was not just about the transfer itself. He said Arsenal won the Premier League last season, but still need a top-five-in-the-world attacker to win the Champions League.

"I think the Vinicius Junior thing is really interesting in that I do think you need something like that to win the Champions League," he said. He added: "I just can't see Arsenal winning it [the Champions League] because those players… think of the teams that win the Champions League, think of the guy up front or the winger, it's top-five players in the world."

Vinicius' own level is not in doubt. In his last five recorded World Cup matches, he has averaged a 7.94 rating and scored four goals, but only had one combined assist contribution. That is the kind of output that makes the speculation feel credible on paper, even if Carragher does not buy the move itself.

Arsenal's record last season was strong enough to keep them in the conversation, with 85 Premier League points and eight wins in eight Champions League matches in the supplied data. Carragher still thinks one attacker of Vinicius' calibre would be the missing piece, but he is not convinced Arsenal are the club that gets him.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →