Arsenal target Vinicius stays away from Real

ARSENAL target Vinicius Junior will not return to Real Madrid training this week as doubts over his future rumble on.

The Brazil winger was knocked out of the World Cup in the last 16 and the expectation in Madrid was that he would be back in training yesterday. But Vinicius is staying away while his representatives try to revive talks over an extension to his contract, which runs out at the end of the season.

Madrid want Vinicius, 26, to lower his demands to be joint top earner with Kylian Mbappe. If not, the way will be left clear for Arsenal.

Daily Mail Sport

understands Vinicius’s representatives will emphasise his commercial value to the club. The player shares about half of his commercial earnings with Madrid and during the World Cup he had lucrative deals with 15 multinational sponsors — a number topped only by his Brazil team-mate Neymar. Real Madrid are on the verge of signing Ivory Coast winger Yan Diomande from RB Leipzig for £85million, adding to an already bloated forward line.