Is Vinicius Junior entering his Real Madrid end game? Rows with Xabi Alonso, Kylian Mbappe's red-hot form and teenage talents threaten to force Brazilian superstar towards Saudi Arabia

Not so long ago Madrid were willing to tolerate Vinicius' egotistical behaviour - and sometimes even support it.

The winger was utterly convinced he was going to win last year's Ballon d'Or and even brought up his seemingly imminent triumph during a heated exchange with Gavi towards the tail end of Madrid's 4-0 loss to Barcelona just two days before the ceremony in Paris.

It was a rather revealing insight into his mindset. Vinicius clearly felt that boasting about his Ballon d'Or bid while his team were being humiliated on home soil by their most hated rivals was some kind of zinger; that individual glory was somehow more significant than collective failure in a team game like football. But the joke was on the Brazilian - because Vinicius didn't win the Ballon d'Or, and he took it very, very badly.

Even though Rodri made for a most deserving winner of the 2024 Ballon d'Or, Vinicius refused to attend the Manchester City midfielder's coronation.

Of course, not a single representative from Real Madrid turned up either. "It is obvious that the Ballon d'Or and UEFA do not respect Real Madrid," an unnamed source told AS. "And Real Madrid is not where it is not respected."

As hissy fits go, it was pretty hysterical, the unintentional irony almost overwhelming. Madrid and Vinicius felt disrespected - and yet it was they who had disrespected Rodri.

Still, at least a Ballon d'Or boycott was something that los Blancos could easily get behind. Vinicius' very obvious personality clash with Alonso is far more problematic for Florentino Perez & Co.

Alonso is a likeable leader - as Bayer Leverkusen double-winners would attest - but the Spaniard does not have anything like the same laissez-faire approach to man-management or team tactics as his predecessor as Madrid manager, Carlo Ancelotti, whose father-like relationship with Vinicius and the other Brazilians in the Bernabeu dressing room undoubtedly played a part in the Italian's appointment as Selecao coach.

Consequently, the arrival of Alonso was always likely to ruffle some feathers at Real - at least initially - but that wasn't considered a bad thing. The feeling was that after a disastrous final season under Ancelotti, Madrid's superstars would benefit from less freedom and more structure.

Kylian Mbappe is certainly thriving under the new boss. The Frenchman won the European Golden Shoe last year, with 31 goals in 34 Liga games, but his strike-rate has actually improved this season, while there's also a greater dynamism about his all-round play.

Mbappe is now, without a shadow of a doubt, the leader of Madrid's attack, as well the club's poster-boy - which was Perez's plan all along. It's why he invested so much time, money and effort in convincing Mbappe to leave Paris Saint-Germain for Madrid.

The knock-on effect, though, is that Vinicius no longer feels as appreciated as he once did at the Bernabeu.

Vinicius' current contract expires in two years' time and it could yet be renewed. However, whereas an extension was considered a given as recently as last season, the forward's future is now shrouded in uncertainty - and Vinicius' strained relationship with Alonso is the reason why.

The first signs of tension between the two appeared during the Club World Cup, when Alonso informed Vinicius that he would not be starting the semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain, which did not go over well at all with the forward.

In the end, Vinicius started the game in East Rutherford - but only due to an injury to Trent Alexander-Arnold, and even then the 25-year-old was less than impressed at being deployed 'out of position' on the right wing. Vinicius nonetheless played his part in Madrid's strong start to the 2025-26 season.

However, it quickly became clear that he was not happy with being occasionally rotated and regularly subbed by Alonso. With 13 minutes to go in the 2-0 win over Espanyol on September 20, Vinicius was replaced by Rodrygo. He responded by waving his arms around in disbelief before throwing a water bottle to the floor in frustration.

Vinicius and his entourage would likely disagree vehemently but he's actually very lucky that he has a coach as composed as Alonso, who has handled his childish conduct with the same kind of class he exuded during his playing days.

After the Espanyol outburst, Alonso pointed out that Franco Mastantuono, who had come off at the same time as Vinicius, was disappointed by his withdrawal too.

"Franco said to me, ‘Are you taking me off?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ Something similar happened with Vini, but it happens to everyone," Alonso rather reasonably explained. "But I'm very happy with Vinicius' performance. The only thing he was missing today was a goal.

"It’s true that he came off the pitch when he was feeling best, so I could have waited a bit to replace him, but I understood that we needed fresh players to maintain control. The schedule is demanding and we have to keep going like this."

When Alonso was pressed on the matter again just a couple of days later, he struck an even more empathetic tone.

"I've been a player too," he pointed out on the eve of his team's game against Levante. "When I was substituted, it wasn't always the nicest moment. So, [frustration], it's normal, it's natural.

"We talked about things after the game, as I like to be close to the players, and I won't make a big deal out of something small."

Vinicius, though, is evidently incapable of such restraint.

Vinicius' Clasico conniption was always going to cause a colossal amount of controversy. This wasn't Espanyol. It was Barcelona. In the biggest fixture in football. The whole world was watching, meaning everyone had an opinion.

Ex-Brazil international Luis Fabiano accused his compatriot of showing his replacement, Rodrygo, "a lack of respect", while former France international Christophe Dugarry spoke for a lot of people when he proclaimed himself tired of Vinicius' antics.

"He's always whining, he's always crying at the referee and at the opponents - he's unbearable now," Dugarry told RMC Sport. "You can be disappointed after being taken off, with your head down, grumbling, but insulting your coach, this is going too far.

"Have you ever asked yourself the question that if the coach doesn't play you, it's because your performances aren't at the right level? Get out, man, get out. Your performances are not up to scratch. He's still a long way from his level of recent seasons. He needs to reassess himself.

"He's a future Ballon d'Or winner, a leader of Brazil, one of Real Madrid's best. But he needs to show something else if he wants to be at the same level. Florentino Perez will get rid of him."

As for Steve McManaman, he was annoyed at Vinicius for overshadowing what was a hugely significant win for his old club. "We shouldn't be talking about someone getting substituted after 75 minutes. It drives me mad," the European Cup winner said on ESPN.

"Because it's not about [Vinicius], it's about the team. It's about the collective. It's about winning. It is about going five points clear. It's about beating Barcelona after they beat you four times last year. It's about winning Xabi Alonso's first Clasico as coach."

Vinicius wasn't without his defenders, though. Toni Kroos, for example, argued on his own podcast that "nobody can judge or imagine the emotion" that a player experiences during a Clasico played in front of 80,000 people. "In the cold light of day and with a bit of distance, he'll probably think: 'Well, I could have held back the anger a little longer.' As you can see in the images, it's not been conveyed in the ideal way," the former Madrid midfielder acknowledged. "Even so, I want to point out that it's an emotionally exceptional situation to be down there in a match like that."

Crucially, Vinicius' team-mate Dean Huijsen also leapt to his defence, with the Spain centre-back accusing the media of making "a huge fuss" out of a small matter. "He apologised, which I thought was fair, but he's an incredible team-mate, a really good guy, and it's no big deal. These things happen in football."

However, the issue with Huijsen's argument is that the apology was arguably even worse than the act itself. In his 98-word statement on his meltdown, there was no mention of his coach.

Vinicius basically said sorry to everyone bar the man he disrespected - and that was no oversight. The omission of even a reference to Alonso was very deliberate - as was the fact that the public apology was posted online on the very same day that The Athletic published a piece in which an anonymous source said that Alonso "thinks he's Pep Guardiola, but so far he's just Xabi."

Alonso, to his enormous credit, continued to rise above such underhanded attempts to turn this into a struggle for public approval between a player and his coach, preferring instead to praise Vinicius for his "valuable" and "positive" apology and draw a line under the matter.

This affair is far from over, though, as underlined by ongoing leaks to the press, with AS reporting that Vinicius is now 'seriously considering' leaving Madrid, while BILD have gone as far as to claim that the decision has already been taken to sell the attacker at the end of the season.

It certainly wouldn't be a shock to see Vinicius make a long-mooted move to Saudi Arabia. His prime years may still be ahead of him but it's hard to see any elite European club meeting Real's rumoured €150 million (£132m/$174m) asking price.

Obviously, an awful lot could change between now and next summer - particularly at the Bernabeu, where a coach is never more than a couple of defeats away from a crisis. Still, Alonso is presently in a position of real strength, with Madrid top of La Liga, while Vinicius' hand has been weakened by his petulance and patchy performances (no goals or assists in his last five matches in all competitions).

He may still believe he's the best player in the world but he's not even the best player at the Bernabeu. As former France international Emmanuel Petit recently told JeffBet, Mbappe is the new "king" of Madrid and "Vinicius Jr is upset he's not being paid the same amount of money and the fact the team has been built around Mbappe. It felt like even Jude Bellingham was annoyed by Mbappe's arrival because he wasn't scoring as much, but that has changed recently. Everything has changed, in the media, in the changing room, the tactics on the pitch. Bellingham has been acting professionally and more intelligently in his communication than Vinicius."

Perhaps even more worryingly for Vinicius, there are a number of promising teenage talents in the Madrid squad capable of taking his place in Alonso's starting line-up, including Mastantuono and Endrick. Furthermore, if he were to be sold, the massive amount of money raised could then be easily invested in a star centre-forward (Erling Haaland, anyone?!) if Alonso wanted to move Mbappe onto the left wing.

The Blancos boss would never say such a thing in the current climate, of course. He's just trying to keep the peace for now, as he knows how valuable Vinicius could be to Madrid's hopes of winning major silverware this season.

However, Alonso has also acknowledged that for Vinicius to reproduce his very best form, "He has to feel important and comfortable." Right now, he clearly feels neither, meaning the next time he threatens to leave, Madrid might well usher him out the door.

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