One name that has been on the radar of every top European football club in recent weeks, is Endrick Felip, a 15-year-old Brazilian footballer who has become the latest sensation in his nation. He is seen as Brazil’s next big thing. Some of the Premier League clubs and Barcelona have already sent their scouts to watch him play in the Sao Paolo Junior Football Cup, and according to ESPN, even Real Madrid have been monitoring the teen for a while.
Endrick is a Palmeiras youth product and he hasn’t even signed a professional contract with Palmeiras as he hasn’t turned 16 yet, but every European club is looking to sign him, which speaks loads about his talent and potential. And the expectations on him have just been doubled with his recent overhead kick goal from outside the box this week, which might actually be a Puskas worthy goal. Have a look at the goal here, to get an idea of Endrick’s brilliance.
Of course, Endrick can’t go to any European club before he turns 18, and he can only sign the agreement with a club. It will be a tough job to secure the youngster’s signature, and he will only go upwards from here, which will definitely increase the competition in the coming days.
From the initial impressions, Endrick looks like a typical Brazilian youngster, full of flair and confidence to go past the defenders with ease, and has the ability to score goals for fun. He has the ability to play both as a striker and a winger. Apparently, he has racked up 167 goals from 170 games in his academy days, and seriously, that is an insane stat.
The left-footed forward has been hailed as the new El Fenomeno by some of the fans on social media who’ve been very excited by his talent. It is very early to give him such tags, but he is definitely going to be a wonderful player.
Should Real Madrid go after Endrick?
In the last four years, Real Madrid have signed three teenage players from Brazil in Vinicius Jr., Rodrygo Goes, and Reinier Jesus. The plan didn’t really seem to work out until last year, and President Florentino Perez had to face a lot of criticism for his plan to invest in youth and not in proven talent. It was always going to be a risky project, but people needed some patience before jumping to conclusions on this youth development project.
And now, a year later, Vinicius has pretty much been the club’s second-best player this season, and Rodrygo is looking like a work in progress. Agreed that Reinier Jesus hasn’t been handled well by the club and Dortmund, but overall, the project is definitely on the path to being a successful one.
And the club might be thinking, “Why not continue in the same way by going for another talented Brazilian when the plan is actually working?”. The club definitely wouldn’t hesitate in doing so, when their chief scout Juni Calafat’s main area of expertise is to scout sensational South American talents for the club.
So Real Madrid would have every reason in the world to go after Endrick, a player who could potentially be a next-generation superstar at any club that signs him. But before they take their interest to the next level, they need to remember two things.
They need to remember that “too much of anything is good for anything”, because too much Brazilian attacking talent at a time when they are also looking at Mbappe and Haaland might not be good for the player’s future.
The second thing they need to remember is that they actually need to check if they need the player or not. And if they do need him, then they should take proper care of him, so that he doesn’t become another Reinier, a 30 million euro player whose future has turned into a huge question mark.
If they’re sure of everything, then they should definitely take the next step in their pursuit of Endrick. And if Real Madrid shows interest in a youngster, take it for granted that the player will end up at Real Madrid, because Los Blancos’ pull is practically unbeatable.