Barcelona 'in contact' with 16-year-old wunderkind Vinicius ahead of future Nou Camp move

Barcelona are said to be closely monitoring the development of Brazilian teenager Vinicius de Oliveira Junior ahead of luring him to the Nou Camp in long-term. Spanish publication Sport claims that the La Liga giants have already made contact with the 16-year-old wonderkid but the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City are also expected to battle for his services.

Who does Vinicius play for and who has he been compared to?

Vinicius is yet to play a game for the Flamengo's first-team but has already been tipped as the biggest thing to emerge from Brazilian youth football since the breakthrough of Neymar at Santos.

Sport claims Flamengo are well aware of his talent and in July handed the teenager his first professional contract, inserting a €30m (£26.4m, $31.8m) release clause in the deal to ward off potential suitors.

The Spanish publication reports that Barcelona are one of the clubs keeping an eye on his development, and have been doing so since 2015 when he led his country to a victory in the South American Under 17 tournament played in Colombia, forming an impressive partnership alongside Manchester City target Vitinho.

Sport claims that Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City are all monitoring the situation, but Barcelona have already made a move to beat all them by making initial contact with the player's entourage.

Barcelona see the talented forward as a signing for the medium-to-long-term, but want to make Vinicius's people aware of their interest in order to have the control of his future. The Catalans did the same to sign Neymar from Santos in 2013 after beating the likes of Real Madrid and Chelsea thanks to long-laid groundwork foundations.