Saudi Pro League plot world record smashing £296m bid for Vinicius Jr

Real Madrid megastar Vinicius Jr is set to be the subject of a world record offer from Saudi Arabia, talkSPORT understands.

Dealmakers from the big spending Saudi Pro League are plotting an offer of €350million [£296m] which would eclipse the current record €222m [£200m] that Paris Saint Germain paid Barcelona for Neymar in 2017.

The Saudi Public Investment Fund own and run four of the SPL’s top sides, one of which is Al Ahli who are thought to be the club in mind, although Al Nassr and Al Hilal have also expressed an interest.

There is no buy-in from the player who remains committed to Madrid, although dealmakers have held talks with Roc Nation who represent Vinicius.

Vinicius has previously been linked with a move to Saudi who started spending big in January 2023 with the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United.

Huge world class names like Karim Benzema and Neymar have since followed, but a younger superstar in the shape of 24-year-old Vinicius would drastically change things.

The Brazilian has been linked with a departure from Spain, fuelled by himself after suffering episodes of racist abuse.

Yet when he was last linked with a Saudi move he made things clear when asked where he sees his future.

“Real Madrid,” he said. “The next step is always to have a clear head, to be able to improve my game, to continue developing and to help the biggest club in the world.

“I dreamed of coming here and being able to play with great players in such a brilliant season. 

“I think that is my dream now, to think big and be able to win more titles with this shirt.”

Signed from Flamengo in 2018, Vincius already has a trophy cabinet to be admired having won LaLiga three times, the Copa del Rey once and the Champions League twice.

He also scored in both Champions League final wins over Liverpool in 2022 and Borussia Dortmund last year.

Last time out on Wednesday night against Salzburg he scored his 100th and 101st goals for Los Blancos and said afterwards: “These are incredible numbers and being able to surpass Ronaldo [Nazario], who is one of my idols and is ‘the phenomenon’.

“He helped me a lot to score many goals because he gave me a lot of advice. I think he will be very happy that I can surpass him. I have the utmost respect for him.”