John Obi Mikel makes brutal dig at Arsenal fans over Vinicius Jr transfer failure: ‘Don’t know what they were smoking’

John Obi Mikel has taken aim at Arsenal fans for their reaction to the club’s interest in Vinicius Jr.

The Premier League champions saw a move for the Brazil forward fall through last week as he penned a new Real Madrid deal.

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Vinicius Jr is now contracted at the club until 2032 with his previous deal expiring at the end of the upcoming season.

As a result, Arsenal had weighed up a blockbuster move for the star forward this summer.

They had the capacity to sign him and afford his wages but no formal approach was made and the 26-year-old opted to remain with Real Madrid anyway, much to the frustration of Gunners fans.

Mikel has now poked fun at their excitement over the potential deal after it failed to materialise.

It comes after talkSPORT’s Gabby Agbonlahor labelled Arsenal supporters delusional during the transfer saga.

Arsenal ‘delusion’

Agbonlahor’s stance has now been echoed by Mikel on the latest episode of his The Obi One podcast.

The former Chelsea midfielder said: “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: ‘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, LaLiga, 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****** hell.”

Arsenal ended their 22-year wait for a Premier League title by pipping Manchester City to top spot last term.

Mikel Arteta’s side also reached the Champions League final, but were beaten on penalties by Paris Saint-Germain.

The Obi One Podcast

Whilst the Gunners are yet to be crowned European champions, Vinicius Jr has twice lifted the trophy since joining 15-time winners Real Madrid in 2018.

Mikel’s Arsenal fan DMs

Mikel continued: “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 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.”

Despite the setback in their pursuit of Vinicius Jr, it has already been a busy summer for Arsenal.

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His compatriot Bruno Guimaraes is the latest player to join the club, completing a £75million move from Newcastle.

Christos Tzolis has also arrived from Club Brugge to replace the departed Leandro Trossard.

Elsewhere, Piero Hincapie’s loan from Bayer Leverkusen has been made permanent and Arsenal have also signed goalkeeper Illan Meslier.