Chelsea hero John Obi Mikel has trolled Arsenal supporters after the club missed out on signing Vinicius Junior, asking the fanbase ‘what they were smoking’ to convince them a deal was possible.
Vinicius emerged as a surprise transfer target for Arsenal as the club prepare to defend their Premier League title this coming season, with Mikel Arteta said to be ‘absolutely smitten’ with the idea of capturing the Brazilian.
A proposed move had been approved ‘at all levels’ at the Emirates and the Gunners were reportedly ready to make the 26-year-old the highest-paid player in Premier League history.
But Vinicius would go on to commit his future to Real Madrid, putting pen to paper on a six-year contract extension at the Bernabeu, forcing the English champions to consider alternatives elsewhere.
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It’s understood PSG’s Bradley Barcola and Juventus’ Kenan Yildiz remain on Arsenal’s radar with three weeks remaining of the transfer window, but it would likely take an earth-shattering offer to coax either club into a deal before the deadline.
Prior to Vinicius signing his extension, Obi Mikel told Arsenal fans to ‘forget’ about the 2024 Ballon d’Or runner-up, insisting the attacker was simply ‘using’ the Gunners to get a better deal.
And in the latest episode of The Obi One Podcast, the former Chelsea and Nigeria midfielder couldn’t resist reminding supporters of his previous remarks.
Asked if signing a new deal had perhaps been Vinicius’ plan all along, Obi Mikel replied: ‘Of course, mate. F***inghell. I don’t know what the Arsenal fans were expecting.
‘You win the league after 22 years and then you all of a sudden think: that’s it, you’ve arrived, you’re one of the big boys again. No, you’re not.
‘They’ve just been humbled because I said it: there’s no way Vinicius Junior is leaving Real Madrid to go to Arsenal, a club that’s won one title in 22 years.
‘This guy wins titles, he’s won lots of titles at Real Madrid. He wants to win titles season after season, the Champions League, La Liga, competing year after year and winning those titles.
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‘He’s tasted what it feels like winning the Champions League, Arsenal have never won the Champions League. Zero.
‘You expect a player who has won the Champions League with Real Madrid to leave that, everything that he’s built at Real Madrid, and the squad that Jose Mourinho is assembling right now? They look to me like a team that at the end of the season, you probably see them in the Champions League final.
‘There’s some team there at Real Madrid when you look at the players that they have. You expect him to leave that and go to a team that has won one league title in 22 years? F***inghell.’
Obi Mikel has ‘no idea’ how so many Arsenal fans allowed themselves to believe Vinicius could be persuaded into leaving Real Madrid.
He added: ‘All the Arsenal fans when I said that before, in my DMs, I saw messages, “We’ve clipped this, we’ve sent this video, and when it happens we’re absolutely going to come on here and destroy you…”
‘I was looking at it and thinking that’s just my opinion. I never thought he was going to leave.
‘He was using you guys [Arsenal] to get a better deal, he was using them to get a better deal.
‘I have no idea why Arsenal fans would genuinely believe that Vinicius Junior was going to go from Real Madrid to Arsenal. If you ask anybody…
‘I think it was only Arsenal fans who believed that was going to happen. I don’t know what they were smoking.’
According to Obi Mikel, Arsenal’s style of play under Arteta may have played a part in the club’s apparent failure to bring in certain transfer targets.
‘They wanted Morgan Rogers, we [Chelsea] got him. So many players that they wanted ended up going somewhere else,’ he continued.
‘It just shows that not everybody is buying into what they’re selling.
‘The way they played football last season, the way they won the title last season… yes, they crossed the line and yes, they won it. Now they have to defend the title.
‘I don’t know they [Arsenal fans] want but the bread and butter for Arsenal next season is defending the Premier League title. I know they want to win the Champions League but they have to defend the Premier League.’
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