The Rare History of Vinicius JUNIOR

Vinicius Junior could be the most joyful player to watch that Real Madrid has ever had. Sure they've had better attackers like Benzema, R9 and Cristiano but this skillful Brazilian has got that special Samba flair almost reminiscent of the likes of Ronaldinho. Vini signed for Madrid at a time when they were in turmoil just after Ronaldo had left the club but the way this young man stepped up for his team alongside Benzema and Bellingham to win the UCL in two separate campaigns shows how clutch he really is but today we'll focus on a side of Vini that rarely gets touched upon. Vini signed a 10-year contract with Nike in 2013 for 75 million dollars when he was only 13 years old. Now that is astounding obviously we know Vinicius as the world famous athlete that he is today it's hard to imagine that Nike signed this guy when he was only 13 years old it just shows how much of a promising talent this man was at such a young age. He transferred to Real Madrid in 2018 so Nike signed him for another decade. Yeah the fact that Nike decided to sign this guy for another 10 years put another 10 years into him shows how much they valued him how much of an asset this man was to the Nike brand. When you think of Nike you usually think of athletes like Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo but this young man was meant to be another figurehead for the brand or so it seemed. But then Nike did something cruel to Vini. Nike hated Real Madrid's adidas sponsorship and took it out on Vini. They figured giving Vini the spotlight gave adidas recognition as well but Nike did something no one expected they slowed down Vini's stardom by only giving him old boots and not sending him their latest gear. That is obviously quite a surprise the fact that Nike essentially decided to completely cut ties with Vini just stop giving him their new stuff usually you'd expect Nike to give their top athletes the latest gear so they can show it off in games in matches and just yeah promote the brand but Nike choosing to essentially distrust Vini something you wouldn't really expect and a side of Vini that we don't really hear or see about very often. But then they did something even crazier in November 2022 Nike dropped their world cup ad and it featured every Nike star except Vini. This ties into this whole idea of Nike really losing trust in Vini cutting ties with him he goes from being one of the main faces of the company to no longer being shown in advertisements that Nike display and it just shows how Nike really decided to pull the plug on this man pull the plug on Vini and no longer incorporate him into their brand and it is just so shocking how quickly Nike decided to completely turn on this player no longer incorporate him as part of their plans something we don't really see that often in the footballing world. A sporting brand as big as Nike completely stopping all of their endorsements and associations with a player out of nothing. Vini wanted out from Nike so he had his lawyer get him out of his contract but he was signed to Nike for 10 more years so he lost out on 70 million dollars. For months Vini refused to play in Nike products and blacked out his boots so the logo didn't appear. Once again that is mad the fact that this guy was willing to black out his boots so they didn't have the Nike logo it wasn't clear that he was wearing Nike boots to show he wasn't really endorsed by the company anymore the whole fact that he was willing to lose 70 million so he could cut ties with the company and no longer be sponsored by them it's all mad we don't really see this that often such a mad story in terms of Nike's fallout with Vinicius the relationship that the two once had and how it really fell apart. Just sad to see how a man who was once one of the main faces of Nike wanted out he didn't want to be with Nike anymore and obviously he's re-signed with Nike now but to see all the drama and fallout at the time it's just very shocking something you wouldn't really expect to see.