Zidane: Vinicius is staying at Real Madrid and will not leave in winter

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has confirmed that Vinicius Junior will not leave the club on loan during the next winter transfer season, despite being left out of the list in five of the last nine games. "Vinicius will not leave, and he will stay here," Zizo said at a news conference in which he confirmed he was "a player in his squad. He didn't play much recently but he is like the rest. The French coach gave reasons for the decline in the importance of Vinicius only the brilliant period of the Belgian Eden Hazard, and also the Brazilian Rodrigo, with whom Vinicius competes for a place in the starting lineup. "He's not playing, it's just like that. It's not time for someone else to come in and play like Rodrigo. When you have 25 players, there are five or six players out of the lineup every game." "We will see what happens tomorrow, and we are coming to many games, so he should be ready." Real Madrid are away to Deportivo Alaves in the 15th round of La Liga on Saturday. They are runners-up with 28 points, the same as leaders and arch-rivals Barcelona with a goal difference.