Underappreciated Vinicius Jr should consider leaving Real Madrid after being treated like a disposable asset in the Kylian Mbappe soap opera

Incredibly, Vinicius' exploits at Real last season did not earn him a place among the final 12 nominees for the 2023 FIFA Best Men's Player award. That fact that the 23-year-old did not receive proper recognition from his peers just goes to show how underappreciated he is.

"Vinicius was crying in the dressing room," Ancelotti joked when quizzed on his omission. "I asked him 'what's going on', and he said: 'They haven't put me on this list'. He cried for three or four hours and we weren't able to get him to stop."

The Brazil international obviously didn't show any frustration on the surface, but Ancelotti was perhaps a bit too quick to dismiss the significance of the snub given how many times he has been knocked down in recent years. Despite emerging as the most important member of the Real squad, the Spanish media has been reluctant to give Vinicius the credit he is due, and he must feel like he's fighting a losing battle.

In the face of frequent, disgusting racist abuse, Vinicius has been painted as a villain, accused of winding up fans and opponents with his flamboyant style of play and outspoken personality, instead of being given proper support. "Players need to be good professionals and they shouldn't behave in an arrogant way," Alberto Nunez Feijoo, president of the People's Party in Spain, said after Vinicius was targeted with monkey chants in a game against Valencia last May.

Madrid have always stood by Vinicius on this matter, and Ancelotti has insisted that there is a wider "racism problem" in Spain, but club officials are also very aware of the negative publicity he generates. According to SPORT, Florentino Perez thinks Mbappe is a more suitable leading man for Real than Vinicius, who is said to have given the club president more food for thought with his "that’s how I used to do it on Copacabana beach" tweet after getting away with a clear handball to score in a controversial win over Almeria last weekend.

Vinicius' unique talents are not valued as a highly as they should be at the Bernabeu amid all the outside noise. He makes more headlines for what happens off the pitch than on it, and for that reason, it seems that Madrid view him as a disposable asset.

SPORT also states that Mbappe has received an offer to join Real on a free transfer in the summer, upon the expiration of his current contract at PSG. Los Blancos are said to have "already decided" to put Vinicius up for sale if they can finalise a deal for Mbappe in the coming months, as they plan to take back the Brazilian's €650,000 salary package to help cover the lucrative terms on the table for his French counterpart.

Manchester United are thought to be at the front of the queue for Vinicius, with a potential £130 million ($165m) bid mooted, and he will surely contemplating his future behind the scenes in Madrid.

Real tied Vinicius to a new four-year deal in October, after he publicly stated his desire to see out the remainder of his playing days at the Bernabeu. But why should Vinicius accept being second-best? Madrid could conceivably perform a U-turn and decide to keep Vinicius after signing Mbappe, but they still play in the same position, meaning the former Flamengo wonderkid's minutes on the pitch would be significantly reduced.

Los Blancos appear to see Mbappe as an upgrade, the man capable of leading a new era of dominance across domestic and European competition. But there could easily be a case made for Vinicius being the better left-winger.

Despite being the focal point in the PSG team, and reportedly even benefitting from executive power in the boardroom, Mbappe has never really made his mark on the Champions League. Vinicius has, not least by scoring the winning goal in the 2022 final against Liverpool, and he continues to deliver in the biggest matches for Ancelotti.

Even if you lean more on the side of Mbappe in the debate over who is the more complete footballer, why on earth would Madrid blow the majority of their transfer budget on a player who probably won't add a new dimension to their attack?

Real's drawn-out pursuit of Mbappe has taken countless twists and turns, with the World Cup-winner still yet to make a definitive decision on his future. Mbappe shocked the world when signing a new contract at PSG in May 2022 after the club rejected two mega-bids from Real, but found himself banished from the first-team squad last summer as he refused to take up the option of a one-year extension.

According to Sport Bild, the 25-year-old is now finally ready to make the switch to the Bernabeu, but only if Real pay him a salary of €70m (£60m/$76m) per year and a transfer bonus of €125m (£107m/$136m). That's despite Mbappe's mother, Fayza Lamari, who also serves as his agent, having expressed her anger at Perez for putting "pressure" on her son with public statements over his potential move to Madrid - as The Athletic reports.

GOAL understands that a large number of Madrid fans have turned against Mbappe amid the complicated saga, with some of the opinion that he has taken the club for a ride. Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos is among those to have been alienated, as he recently told his followers on Twitch: "I was a little disappointed. All this stuff about money, bonuses, fidelity and his f*cking mother has me tired on a level that I don't understand. If you want to come to Real Madrid, you know you have to come to Real Madrid, you want to come, why are you setting up all this when you are ultra-super-hyper-millionaire?"

If Real do go ahead and replace Vinicius with Mbappe, they will be swapping one divisive figure for another. At least with Vinicius, his loyalty to the Liga giants has never been in doubt, and he doesn't appear to share Mbappe's love for being centre of attention at all times.

Karim Benzema's departure to Al-Ittihad last summer left a huge void in the Madrid squad. The 2022 Ballon d'Or winner had led the line for Los Blancos for over a decade, scoring 354 goals in 648 games, and it was always going to take time for Ancelotti's side to adapt to his departure.

Real did sign Joselu on loan to provide cover up top, but focused most of their energy into Jude Bellingham instead of targeting a proper replacement for Benzema, eventually agreeing a €105 million (£88m/$110m) with Borussia Dortmund for the England international. Surprisingly, Bellingham has since stepped up to shoulder the main goalscoring burden for his new team finding the net 18 times in his first 23 games.

But long-term, the 20-year-old cannot be expected to keep up that prolific strike rate. Real need another Benzema, and will struggle to add to their haul of 14 Champions League crowns until they get one.

It has been reported that Madrid will turn their attention to Manchester City goal machine Erling Haaland if they fail to lure Mbappe away from PSG again, but he really should be their priority target already. Legendary Italian manager Fabio Capello certainly thinks his old club are missing the bigger picture, as he told Marca this week: "Haaland is an area player, the best as a pure forward, as number nine. Mbappe is not a centre-forward, he likes to play more on the wing. Madrid already has Vinicius. If Madrid is going to sign someone, they have to ask themselves if they have a centre-forward now, and they don't have one. They need that more."

Haaland's agent, Rafaela Pimenta, has even hinted that the Norwegian would jump at the chance to move to the Bernabeu. "There's the Premier League and then there's also Madrid," she said last year. "They have something of their own that is also the dream for the players. Madrid keeps this magic going."

Mbappe wouldn't have a transformative impact on this Real team, but Haaland very well could, especially with Vinicius on hand to provide him with top-quality service.

At the moment, the only downside to Vinicius' game is his tendency to let his frustration get the better of him. He is constantly subjected to rough treatment from opposing teams given his status as Madrid's danger-man, and often gets drawn into confrontations instead of letting his football do the talking.

One such example came in the Supercopa final, as he was seen taunting the Barca bench after Ronald Araujo was sent off for a second bookable offence. Vinicius' petulant actions almost overshadowed his dazzling performance, and he will need to learn how to keep his emotions in check if he is to unlock his full potential in the coming years.

To Vinicius' credit, though, he is mature enough to realise where he has room for improvement. "I am not a saint," he said after Real's 4-1 victory. "Sometimes I talk too much, sometimes I do dribbles that I don't have to do and I want to learn. I'm here for that, to learn."

Mbappe is two years older than Vinicius, but has never shown the same ability for self-analysis. Everything is about him at PSG, which exactly how he likes it.

The French champions have fuelled his ego to the point where it actually feels like he is bigger than the club at this point, and it's come at the expense of their overall performance. PSG are back on top in Ligue 1, but there is no real competition for Luis Enrique's side, and their glaring weaknesses were on full display in the Champions League group stage.

"I think Mbappe is stagnating today. I hope he leaves, from the bottom of my heart," former France centre-forward Christophe Dugarry told RMC Sport earlier this month. "I think he's becoming more and more predictable, he lacks strength and character, he disappears from games too often. He's wanted all the power, you get the feeling he's a little boy, you get the impression the suit's too big. I feel he's a bit lost, there's no sense of symbiosis. Things haven't been going well at PSG for a few months now."

Vinicius isn't "lost" like Mbappe, and it's difficult to envisage Ancelotti giving the green light for his departure. The Italian has masterfully overseen the youngster's development, and clearly takes great pride in how far he has come. "[Vinicius] is back to his best level after his injury," he said in a press conference last week. "He's learning to play on the inside as well as the outside, that makes him more dangerous. He's much less predictable, changing his position, and combining well with Rodrygo."

Now that Real can call upon a fully-fit Vinicius again, they have a great chance to regain the Liga title, with surprise package Girona lacking the same level of experience at the business end of the season. He's good enough to spearhead another run into the latter stages of the Champions League, too, even if Real don't quite have the tools to go all the way this time around.

But it is high time that Madristas give Vinicius the respect he deserves. His place in their hall of fame should be secure already given how much he has achieved in just six seasons, and the best is yet to come.

Mbappe is unquestionably a world-class player, too, but Madrid just don't need him right now, or the baggage that he brings. Vinicius was made to shine under the bright lights at the Bernabeu, and Los Blancos would be foolish to keep pushing him away, especially to accommodate a man whose ego could fill the stadium.