Why Not Us?

On Arsenal potentially signing Vinicius Junior, what it would mean for the club, and why it's more than possible.

In 2005, when I was still just a kid, my father took me to go see D.C. United play Chelsea in an exhibition match. In the parking lot outside of RFK Stadium where the pre-match tailgate occurred, I seared my ankle when I accidentally pressed it against a miniature grill someone had left sitting on the ground unattended. Even now, I remember the excruciating pain that rocketed through my body in that moment. The burn remained a grotesque white splotch for almost a year before fading into a scar.

In addition to the physical scar, however, there was a mental one that lasted far longer. For years, I felt heightened anxiety around stoves, ovens, grills, fireplaces, and most other mundane heat sources. I was terrified of feeling that painful sensation again, the one that had me grimacing and wincing despite the likes of Hernán Crespo and Claude Makélélé playing in the flesh just a matter of feet away. I never wanted to risk experiencing it again.

So I avoided fire when I could. Outside of carrying in logs to burn, I never helped my dad nurture the flames to life in our fireplace. I never played with lighters or matches, and to this day still can’t really get either of those to work. And I never turned the stove on, especially after seeing my mother — a very capable and experienced cook — almost singe her eyebrows off on an old one in my childhood home.

That meant that I made it to my mid-20s without really learning how to cook. I lived with roommates in college and on my own in graduate school, sustaining myself on a diet of fast food, instant ramen, and homemade turkey sandwiches. Other than the microwave, the appliances in my kitchen always collected a thin veneer of dust.

Then my wife came along, taking pity on me and teaching me how to cook early on in our budding courtship. She stood next to me as I turned my stove on for the first time in my dingy studio apartment in Foggy Bottom and instructed me on how to boil water. And yes, I understand how utterly absurd all this sounds, but fears are often irrational. For many of them, you just need someone to lead you to the truth: respecting the risk of pain does not require terror-induced paralysis.

Now, I love cooking. In front of the stovetop is one of the places where I feel most at home. The fear of anguish has been replaced by the joy of creation.

I used to scoff at the idea that I would ever even craft a plate of spaghetti and meatballs with my own hands. My fear of getting scalded again dampened my imagination in that regard. Now, I’ve produced Beef Wellington, Hainanese chicken, beef and broccoli, breakfast burritos, various fried rice dishes, banana bread syrup for my lattes, almond croissant blondies, halal cart chicken and rice, and a slew of other culinary concoctions. When I walk into my kitchen these days, I feel like I can achieve almost anything (although I could still certainly get better at cooking a steak).

Four days ago, David Ornstein rocked the Arsenal world when he reported that the Gunners were exploring a move to sign Brazilian phenom Vinicius Junior from Real Madrid. We were still smarting from losing out on Morgan Rogers, who at the time appeared to be the club’s preferred choice for the left wing role. The former Aston Villa man has since joined Chelsea as the current British record transfer. But even at the time, I couldn’t help but wonder why Arsenal would let their number one target join their local rivals. I was curious to see who else the hierarchy were considering for a position in which they desperately needed a statement signing.

Vinicius is someone whom myself and many others wondered about as this summer transfer window has evolved. Even at the outset of the offseason, the pool of players who would have foreseeably elevated Arsenal at left wing was rather shallow. Rogers isn’t quite an orthodox wide forward, preferring to operate more in central spaces. Bradley Barcola, despite being immensely talented, has too many question marks around him to justify the nine-figure outlay Paris Saint-Germain are demanding for him. Kenan Yıldız is in a similar boat, but less attainable. Julian Álvarez is a potential game breaker but again, he isn’t a traditional touchline winger.

Then there are the likes of Mika Godts, Nico Williams, and Rafael Leão — all potentially boasting high ceilings, yet equally high degrees of uncertainty. And if all else fails, perhaps there’s Marcus Rashford on deadline day. The options, frankly, aren’t all that inspiring outside of a couple.

After a while, the eyes begin to drift to Vini. It makes sense, too. The Gunners are known to pursue so-called “market opportunities”, and the Brazilian fits the bill to a tee. He is a level-raiser in a position they want to fortify. Arsenal have the means to make a highly compelling offer to the winger. He is about to enter the final year of his contract with Real Madrid and by all accounts, talks over a new deal have hit a snag. The door is ostensibly open for Arsenal to swoop in. And as has been confirmed by Ornstein and the likes of HandOfArsenal and Pepe Álvarez, the Gunners are well aware.

And yet, there is a disbelief, a reluctance among many fans to accept that such an earth-shattering acquisition is a possibility. Arsenal have never been in the habit of signing superstars. As Arsène Wenger famously said, the club made their superstars instead. They don’t make signings like Paul Pogba, Ángel Di María, Robinho, or Andriy Shevchenko. They certainly don’t make signings that would be bigger than that.

So, for this skeptical crowd, why would signing Vinicius, agonizingly close to a Ballon d’Or less than two years ago and still widely considered one of the best players in the world, possibly be on the table? Instead of accepting that it might be, they choose other explanations. Arsenal are once again being used by a player to get a better contract. It’s a “PR move” by Andrea Berta to save face after losing out on other targets (a line of thinking I personally find laughable). It’s delusional tabloid talk that is certain to pass.

Fans who doubt the possibility of a signing so fantastical, so monumental, would rather emotionally divest from the beginning than to risk disappointment. As was the case with many with the idea of winning the Premier League, people want to protect themselves from psychic harm. They want to avoid the rug being pulled out from under them.

To an extent, I understand. As I was on that blacktop in southeast Washington, D.C. 21 years ago, we’ve all been burned by dreams the transfer window has sold us. There was the Karim Benzema saga, missing out on teenage Kylian Mbappé, and no one will soon forget “Higuaín close, Rooney next. Blimey.”

If anything, we’ve become painfully accustomed to losing our own stars instead of plucking them from other teams. I’ll never forget the summer when both Cesc Fàbregas and Samir Nasri were sold, despite Wenger claiming publicly that Arsenal could not call themselves a big club if that conclusion came to pass. Losing both Robin van Persie and Alexis Sánchez to Manchester United also still initiates a pang of sadness within me when those departures come to mind. And Manchester City’s shopping spree in north London to add Bacary Sagna, Gaël Clichy, Kolo Touré, and Emmanuel Adebayor to Nasri shall fester in my memory as a lifelong grudge.

In the earlier years of the Mikel Arteta project, the scars from the banter era affected me as well. The first links between William Saliba and Real Madrid spiked my cortisol. I perhaps protested too much when Liverpool fans talked about signing Bukayo Saka. Entering last season, I too held the fear that another unsuccessful campaign would result in dejection and departures by the Gunners’ greatest assets.

So truly, I empathize. Despite Arsenal’s rich history, despite its size as a club, we aren’t used to being a truly dominant force. But my question remains: why can’t the Gunners be one now?

Things have changed. The Premier League is now the biggest game in town, a gold standard for Europe and perhaps the rest of the world as well. Although the likes of PSG, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich retain the prestige of their badges, they now face sterner competition in terms of financial power from English football’s top clubs. Insanely lucrative television deals and a resulting influx of high-level talent up and down the Premier League table has ratcheted up the gravity of its teams’ brands. Although those four European powerhouses remain top of the 2026 Deloitte Football Money League, the next six spots are occupied by Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Chelsea in that order.

However, I’d argue that Arsenal have before them a generational opportunity to become a true titan of club football, to enter the pantheon that the “big four” call home. The Gunners are already a global brand — the club boasts millions of fans around the world, have reportedly accumulated a Premier League record single-season revenue total from the past season, and employ some of the best players in the game like Saliba and Declan Rice. Now, they are champions of England and were a penalty shootout away from winning the Champions League to boot.

Arsenal therefore look poised to begin a virtuous cycle. Their earnings will doubtlessly be reinvested into the first team — as I write this, Christos Tzolis is impressing in preseason training and a victorious end to the Bruno Guimarães saga reportedly draws near — to strengthen and re-energize Arteta’s men. City lost Pep Guardiola and Bernardo Silva earlier this summer and Rodri could leave as well. Liverpool are in a time of transition and seem more interested in signing yet another expensive left-sided forward than in addressing their more structural issues. Chelsea have brought in Xabi Alonso, but an entire starting lineup’s worth of signings will need time to bed in as the new manager might also require an adjustment period. Manchester United look to be on the upswing and have made a couple savvy signings, but it seems a bit early to project them as true title challengers.

Thus, the Gunners will almost certainly be favorites to retain their Premier League crown. They will likely once more be very much in the running in the Champions League. Arteta’s men will go again, and will probably do well enough to help earn the club another commercial windfall and more reinvestment in a team that has entered its winning window.

But a genuine superstar would serve to catalyze this growth. A true galactico talent wearing the Arsenal badge wouldn’t just propel the side to glory on the pitch, but would bring a slew of new fans, who wouldn’t otherwise join this journey, along for the ride. And in this moment, Vinicius Junior is the perfect footballer to serve in this role.

Let’s be clear here — Vinicius is a genuine superstar. We’re talking about a player who has twice won the Champions League with Real Madrid, inarguably the biggest club in the sport. If not for Rodri, he would be a Ballon d’Or winner. In any event, he remains the face of football in Brazil, a nation that is steadfastly crazy about the game despite the decline of the national team over the last two decades. Vinicius joining Arsenal would open up a new, massive market for the Gunners to entice and enthrall.

And what could the English champions offer the Real Madrid man? Well, plenty. For starters, playing every week in the Premier League, which boasts a far greater viewership than La Liga, will expose Vinicius to a much larger audience. The Brazilian’s already illustrious brand will grow even further as one of the best players in the English top flight.

With the Premier League’s popularity proving so gainful for its clubs, Arsenal as its current best team are poised to offer a competitive financial package for the Real Madrid man’s services. According to the more reliable sources we have seen report on this potential deal, the Gunners’ hierarchy are prepared to offer up the cash required to land Vinicius, with such an expenditure being “approved at all levels”. This means paying Real Madrid a fee that would eclipse the one that made Rice their current record transfer, as well as making the Brazilian easily the highest-paid player on the roster. And it would be the Kroenkes leading the charge on this — such is the importance of acquiring a centerpiece like Vinicius.

On top of that, joining Arsenal would allow Vinicius to better profit from that enlarged brand. At Real Madrid, a 50-50 split is instituted regarding image rights; half of the commercial revenue a player at the club derives must go to their employer. Real believe that a footballer’s image is boosted just by being at the club (which is fair enough), which therefore entitles them to that percentage of their players’ image rights. Mbappé is reportedly an exception to this rule, but that appears to be the extent to which they’d allow a deviation from their policy. Meanwhile, the Gunners are seemingly willing to offer Vinicius much more control over his image rights, adding to lucrativeness of moving to north London.

Aside from the moneymaking potential of joining Arsenal, it would also make plenty of sense for him from a footballing perspective. Like I’ve said before, the Gunners need a headliner at left wing. Not only would Vini Jr slot in automatically, but he would almost certainly mesh well in the Gunners’ system. Kai Havertz represents a striker who can bring the Brazilian into the game by serving as a false nine, while Saka is a right-sided forward who can almost certainly combine well with him too. Players like Rice, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Riccardo Calafiori, and Piero Hincapié would also fortify the left flank defensively to make up for Vinicius’ lack of efficacy off the ball.

Not to mention, going through with this move would mean that the Brazilian would work with Mikel Arteta, one of the best managers in the world right now. Arteta, someone who has worked with some amazing wingers already at City and Arsenal, would surely find ways to improve Vinicius’ game. And I would argue that with the Gunners, Vini Jr would be more likely to compete for the highest honors than he would be at Real Madrid. Los Blancos may be making some big splashes in the transfer market this summer, but you never quite know what you’re going to get under Jose Mourinho. More and more these days, it is an appointment that does not end well.

Lastly, should he make this move he will be living in London, one of the most famous and most desired cities on the globe. It is a diverse, exciting city filled with movers and shakers. Not only will he be at Arsenal with fellow Brazilians in Gabriel and hopefully Guimarães, but he will be welcomed and supported by a fan base that contains a multitude of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, that will leap to his defense and fight against any abuse like what he has received in Spain, that understands on a molecular level what it is like to be othered. It is a destination that is seemingly likely to feel like a home.

If HandOfArsenal is to be believed (and at this point, he surely is), this all figures to make the Gunners quite prominent on the player’s camp of potential destinations.

And this all of course is presented against a backdrop that points toward Vinicius exiting Madrid. His current club do not appear to be willing to budge on their limitations for his new contract, willing to risk imparting the message that the Brazilian is not viewed as a crucial piece of Real Madrid’s project the way Mbappé or Jude Bellingham are. They are reportedly close to acquiring Yan Diomandé, a player who himself has admitted he prefers to play on the left flank. Furthermore, Endrick has returned from loan and does not wish to leave again while Real Madrid are close to signing another center forward in Carlos Espi, which presumably also pushes Mbappé to the left as well. On top of all that, Los Blancos are now trying to add Rodri to a bloated roster.

Surely, someone has to leave. And perhaps I’m adding two and two and getting 22, but it looks more and more like Vinicius is the odd man out.

So I ask again: why not us? Why not Arsenal? If I may be so bold, this is almost certainly the most gargantuan the club has ever been. It is a sleeping giant that has just opened an eye, a behemoth ready to wreak havoc. The opportunity is there, staring us in the face, to make this a period in the club’s history we’ll want to relive for the remainder of our days on this mortal coil. Perhaps this is a chance even to permanently thrust Arsenal into a new echelon entirely. In other words, it’s dynasty time.

My feeling is that the powers that be at Arsenal know this. And they’re acting like it. In my humble opinion, we should join them.

It’s funny. For years, I watched stars rise in prominence at Arsenal until they burst into the spotlight, prompting that familiar old concern that they’d run off to Real Madrid one day. Just in this current team alone I’ve felt that way about Saliba, Calafiori, Rice, and Saka. I never for one moment considered that we could bring a little bit of Real Madrid to them. Until now.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following me on Twitter @Shamsdale or on Bluesky @shamsdale.bsky.social.

Or you can buy me a coffee here.