Arturo Vidal Criticizes Vinícius and Valverde
Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal has made a series of controversial statements in a chat with Argentine streamer Davoo Xenize on the newly founded streaming platform Kick. The Colo Colo footballer made remarks against Federico Valverde and Vinícius Júnior, key players for Real Madrid.
During the conversation, the 37-year-old Chilean reminisced about his career, where he has played for major clubs such as Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus, Bayern Munich, FC Barcelona, Inter Milan in Europe, Flamengo, and Paranaense in Brazil. Additionally, he has been a notable figure for the Chilean national team, despite not qualifying for the World Cup since Brazil 2014.
"NOT TOP 10"
Vidal decided to talk about Vinícius Júnior, the current star of Real Madrid who is participating in the Copa América, stating that for him, the Brazilian "is not among the top 10 in the world," despite the fact that the 23-year-old winger has been praised for his great performances and is a strong candidate for the Ballon d'Or.
"Vinícius is not in the world's top 10 for me. He has a long way to go," the Chilean midfielder said.
Currently, Vini is indeed playing in the Copa América, where he had 71 minutes of participation in Brazil's goalless draw against Costa Rica in their debut; meanwhile, Vidal was cut from Chile's squad by Ricardo Gareca.
"HE'S MISSING SOMETHING, HE NEEDS TO BE PUSHED"
In the same critical tone, Vidal claimed that Uruguayan midfielder Fede Valverde "is missing something" to improve and that Real Madrid should "push him" even more, despite the fact that he was the player with the most minutes played last season and was key to winning the LaLiga and Champions League titles.
"Fede Valverde? I like him, but he needs to be pushed a lot more. He's missing something; he has the conditions to be considered one of the best in the world," said the former Chilean international.
"I TAUGHT KROOS"
In addition to his comments against Real Madrid players, Vidal took the opportunity to point out that he "taught a lot" to Toni Kroos during their time together at Bayer Leverkusen.
Kroos, a World Cup champion and multiple Champions League winner, came from Leverkusen's youth academy and shared the locker room with Vidal from 2008 to 2010.
"We played together at Leverkusen; he learned a lot from me, I kicked him several times. He was with me for two years; the first year, he played very little, but he matured a lot," boasted the Chilean.
He also stated that "thanks to him" and Renato Augusto, Kroos—who recently announced his retirement from football—"learned" what it was like to play with the necessary intensity and "what football was," according to Vidal.
"He came on loan from Bayern, and we kicked him around a lot, explaining how football was. He was always very good technically, but he lacked the intensity. In Germany, you don't get kicked much, but he happened to meet me and Renato Augusto, and we taught him a lot. In midfield, it was the three of us, and we almost won the Bundesliga," the Chilean midfielder recalled.
"THEY CHOSE CASEMIRO OVER ME"
Another topic the Chilean discussed was that he was "very close" to joining Real Madrid, a team he has faced 16 times and lost eight times, mostly in the Champions League; however, the move didn't happen because Florentino Pérez "preferred" to bring Casemiro back to the squad.
"It was because of the president (Florentino Pérez), who had to say yes, but it didn't happen. I think the closest I got was before Casemiro returned from his loan to Porto. I should have gone, but they brought him back... in the end, whoever goes to Madrid becomes a champion and wins everything," he said, laughing to the Argentine streamer.
The Spanish-Brazilian midfielder returned from his loan to Porto in the 2015/16 season, the year they won the Champions League at the expense of Atlético Madrid. In addition to finishing as runners-up in LaLiga and reaching the round of 16 in the Copa del Rey.
