Vinicius has no shield

The situation 

The last course of Vinicius Jr. (22) was a show . In the first three seasons as a target (he arrived in the summer of 2018) you could see a fast player, very unbalanced in one-on-one, but who had problems making decisions when he approached the goal. This changed in the last course, he being a key player in the achievement of the three titles achieved by Madrid (Champions, League and European Super Cup) . Along with Benzema, he was Ancelotti’s main offensive weapon. However, the 2021-2022 season will be a bit different. Benzema will turn 35 in December and will play the World Cup in Qatar, so he will need more breathing space throughout the season. And that is where Vinicius will have to assume stripes within the team. It is true that the growth of Brazil in the last year has been tremendous. 22 goals and 16 assists were his numbers among all competitions, constituting 27.5% of Madrid’s goals and 16.9% of assists . Absolute crack numbers. 

The details

If you look back, two seasons ago (2020-2021) he only scored six goals. Upgrading him has also translated into a pretty big increase in minutes from campaign to campaign. While he only played 40% of the minutes (1917) in the 2020-2021 season, in 2021-2022 he played practically everything that was played (82% of the minutes). Quite a remarkable increase. It seems difficult that the third most valuable player in the world (100 million) can improve his level . But he has shown that he has no ceiling. In addition, in Madrid they will need their best version. After the non-arrival of Mbappé and the load of games that an already veteran player like Benzema (main candidate to win the Ballon d’Or this year) will have, Vinicius starts as a fundamental weapon for the merengue attack (if not the most). As if that were not enough, the confidence that Ancelotti has given him since his arrival has also been a factor in the growth of the player, who now more than ever sees himself as a star.