When Liverpool come to make a decision on the dwindling winger market this summer, maybe, just maybe, they will decide a move for Vinicius Jr is not the worst way to replace Mohamed Salah.
After Real Madrid made a big offer for Yan Diomande on Friday, it has led to a feeling that Vinicius could leave Los Blancos, with Liverpool a seemingly possible destination.
A move is by no means close, but as the Reds entertain the thought of also losing out on Bradley Barcola, who Paris Saint-Germain could block from leaving if they cannot obtain Diomande themselves, then Vinicius should come under serious consideration.
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Not only is he one of the best wide forwards in world football, but, as it turns out, the Brazilian is also good friends with Dominik Szoboszlai, who has just committed his future to Liverpool, despite rumours that he wanted to join Vinicius at Real Madrid.
Back in February, while revealing that Szoboszlai had been in touch about getting a pair of his new Nike boots, Vinicius confirmed that he and Liverpool’s No. 8 had been friends since meeting as young players.
Vinicius and Szoboszlai met as youngsters
On the surface, there is no real reason for Szoboszlai and Vinicius being friends. The pair have never been at the same club together, or even geographically close to one another.
As a Brazilian and a Hungarian, Vinicius and Szoboszlai are also essentially cultural opposites.
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Nevertheless, football is quite a small world, and as the two were born just three months apart from each other, they do at least have age in common, and that seems to have been what brought them together initially.
“I talk a lot with Szoboszlai,” Vinicius told Brazilian YouTuber Ibai when asked if he had any football friends away from Real Madrid.
“We met when we were younger,” he then added, without going into further details.
Both playing for their respective national teams at underage level during the late 2010s, it is likely that they met while on the international circuit.
Top players are usually aware of other superstars in waiting in their own age range as well, so there was probably a mutual intrigue there.
The other possibility is that Szoboszlai had some brief dealings with Real Madrid as a youngster. Vinicius was only 18 when he moved from Flamengo to Madrid, and it is possible that Szoboszlai spoke to Madrid at some stage during his time with Austrian clubs FC Liefering and RB Salzburg. They could have come across each other then.
Either way, this is potentially now a relationship which Liverpool could use to their benefit if they so wish. When Vinicius made his comments it had felt as though a card to play in Szoboszlai’s dalliance with Madrid, but with Diomande possibly heading to the Bernabeu and Vinicius out of contract in 2027, maybe this will now swing the other way.
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