Vinícius Júnior has told Real Madrid he will not sign a five-year extension worth €22m net a season through 2031, an impasse reported by beIN Sports at the start of August after months of stalled talks.

The Brazilian is asking for €30m a year and, more awkwardly for the club, a signing bonus that Real Madrid have consistently refused to pay.

Cadena SER and ESPN Brasil, cited in Wednesday’s reporting, described the offer as final at Madrid’s end.

The meeting Real Madrid will not sweeten

A face-to-face meeting between Vinícius’s representatives and club president Florentino Pérez was expected within 48 hours of Yahoo Sports’ 4 August dispatch, which put the potential sale price at €150m. Madrid are not expected to raise their number.

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Sports Illustrated described the club’s stance as a “take it or leave it” position, with senior figures inside the Bernabéu determined that the offer already tabled is the offer.

The current deal runs out at the end of the 2026-27 season, giving Real Madrid a narrow window before their most valuable attacker becomes a free agent.

Vinícius stays away from the numbers

The player himself has kept the money out of his public comments.

Speaking to Real Madrid TV during pre-season on Tuesday, Vinícius steered the answer towards his new head coach.

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“Mourinho wants me to be as I have always been: happy, cheerful and playing my football.”

José Mourinho, confirmed by Real Madrid on 11 June on a three-year deal to 2029, is understood to want the winger kept.

Pérez has the final call, and Al Jazeera reported that Madrid’s decision-makers would rather cash in this month than watch Vinícius walk for nothing in 2027.

Arsenal ready to move if talks collapse

Arsenal are the club most concretely linked. Multiple recent reports describe them as ready to move in if the standoff runs into September, with the Premier League side identified in Al Jazeera’s piece as “monitoring the situation closely”. No bid has been placed.

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The Ronaldo parallel, floated by Spanish columnists this week and picked up by the Madrid-based site that ran Wednesday’s rejection story, is not a like-for-like fit.

Ronaldo was 33 in the summer he pushed Pérez for a raise the club would not grant, and left for Juventus. Vinícius is 26, in his prime, and the €22m already on the table would take him deep into the next decade.

What is familiar is the shape of the argument: a superstar wanting more than the wage structure allows, and a president who has not tended to blink first.

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