EXCLUSIVE | Former Arsenal forward on the Kylian Mbappé-Vinícius Jr. partnership: ‘I feel that sometimes they’re on each other’s toes, and they get in each other’s way.’ | OneFootball

Former Arsenal forward Jérémie Aliadière has told Get Football in an exclusive interview that he has been unimpressed with the Kylian Mbappé-Vinícius Jr. partnership so far at Real Madrid.

Aliadière began by jumping to Mbappé’s defence. The France captain has come in for plenty of criticism since making the move to Real Madrid from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer. “It’s all related to Real Madrid’s results. At the moment, they’re second in La Liga behind Barcelona – Barcelona are having an unreal season – and lost last week at the Emirates 3-0. Obviously, it’ll make people look at Real Madrid and think it’s going be a failed season if they don’t get through [the quarter-final against Arsenal]. So people will look straight away at Mbappé because he’s the big name that arrived in the summer,” began Aliadière, who was speaking ahead of Real Madrid’s UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg against Arsenal. Los Blancos have a 3-0 defifict to overturn.

He added, “But I want to say, people forget that you need to adapt to a new country, a new language, a new style of play. And I think in terms of numbers [Mbappé’s are good], I saw not that long ago he was being compared to Cristiano Ronaldo’s first season at Real Madrid, and his numbers are much better than Ronaldo’s. So he’s having a great season; it’s just unfortunate that he might need a bit of time to adjust to playing with the likes of Jude Bellingham, Vinícius Junior, or  Rodrygo. He maybe just needs this season to adjust. I still feel it’s been a very positive and good season for him.”

Aliadière then specifically evoked Mbappé’s partnership with Vinícius: “I think they are both very similar players. They like to go into similar areas, they like to have the ball and take a player on. I feel that sometimes they’re on each other’s toes, and they get in each other’s way. I just think it’s a shame to have such great players and not be able to play together. You know we saw Kylian Mbappé at Paris Saint-Germain with Neymar and Lionel Messi. In some games, you could see some brilliant chemistry between them, and then in others, they didn’t pass to each other and didn’t really get on. I don’t think it’s personal; it’s just the style of play that might not match at the moment, but I’m sure that they’re very clever players and they’ll work it out. You can’t have such great talents, two of the best players in the world, and not be able to play with each other.“

Jérémie Aliadière was speaking exclusively to Get Football on behalf of NewBettingSites.uk.

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