Vinicius Jr is considered the brightest star of current Brazilian football. Photo: Reuters .
"For many years, many football talents in Brazil were criticized for being mediocre. One very notable case is Vinicius Jr. He was sold to Real Madrid at the age of 18 and later played for the Madrid B team," said Ronaldo.
Vinicius once broke the world football record when he became the most expensive teenage player of all time, with Real Madrid spending over 60 million euros for his transfer. However, during his early stages at the Bernabeu, the Brazilian star didn't receive much playing time. Ronaldo revealed that Spanish football experts initially criticized Vinicius' ball control skills.
"When Vinicius came to Madrid, he didn't know how to control the ball with his left foot. During his time at Flamengo (Brazil's top team), the club didn't properly prepare him, as they didn't focus on improving his left foot and basic techniques. Vinicius only improved when he received training outside of Brazil," pointed out the former Real Madrid player.
The last time Brazilian football made a deep run in the World Cup was during the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea, where they were crowned champions. Since then, Brazilian football had another notable performance in the 2014 World Cup semi-finals, but suffered a 7-1 defeat against Germany. Ronaldo, also known as "Fat Ronaldo," commented that the quality of training is one of the reasons why Brazilian football has fallen behind.
Ronaldo hopes that this situation will improve after 2030, saying, "Brazil will experience a qualitative leap in about 5 or 6 years. We started investing in training, methods, and the Brazilian Football Federation has made significant investments in this area."
