When 16-year-old Brazilian starlet Endrick’s move to Real Madrid was confirmed, he would not have expected his first 15 months to have panned out like this.
The youngster’s move to the Spanish giants was confirmed in December of 2022 but as FIFA rules prohibit players under 18 from being transferred internationally, and he had to wait until July 2024 to join Madrid.
Still just 18 at the time, he had already been compared to Ronaldo, Pele, and was being hailed as the greatest Brazilian talent since Neymar.
He started eight games in his debut season, only three of those coming in La Liga. Overall he made 37 appearances in his first season but played only 847 minutes. That’s less than ten full games.
Then Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti was keen to ease him into life at the top level. He did start four Copa del Rey games and managed a very impressive five goals, showing more than a glimmer of the undoubted talent he possesses.
But injury struck in May when Real Madrid faced Sevilla, with Endrick suffering up a hamstring problem that ruled him out of the Club World Cup entirely.
Real Madrid team-mate and academy graduate Gonzalo Garcia lit up the tournament. The 21-year-old scored four goals in six matches and won the Club World Cup Golden Boot. Of course, he was fortunate that Kylian Mbappe was ill for half of the tournament and that Endrick was injured, but he certainly took his chance.
Endrick was nearing a return to fitness towards the start of the season, but in one of his first training sessions back, he picked up the same injury again.
It seemed like misfortune after misfortune for the Brazilian, and in the midst of all of this, he was handed the number nine shirt by Real Madrid, an iconic shirt worn by Alfredo Di Stefano, Hugo Sanchez, Ronaldo Nazario, and Karim Benzema. It appeared a sign that Endrick was trusted by the Real Madrid hierarchy, and by his new manager Xabi Alonso.
But the 19-year-old is yet to don his new shirt on the football pitch. Endrick returned from his latest ailment in mid-September, but still has not featured for Real Madrid or Brazil.
He has been in the matchday squad for every Madrid game since his return from injury, but has not entered the pitch once in those five games.
As a result, he has not been called up to the Brazilian national team. Ancelotti, now Brazil’s manager, of course knows Endrick from last season at Real Madrid, but will not call up players who are not playing. Even Neymar, one of Brazil’s greatest players ever, is not making squads.
Endrick knows that he will not be on the plane to the World Cup if he is not playing regularly. He was linked with a loan move away from Madrid in the summer with Napoli thought to have been interested, and he will likely assess his options again in January.
At 19-years-old and with the whole world aware of his talent, this is likely to be just a blip in his career. But now behind Mbappe and Garcia in Alonso’s pecking order, the Brazilian faced a battle to win back his place in the side.
