Real Madrid won the transfer race for arguably the most in demand 16-year-old player in history, when they managed to get a deal over the line for Endrick. He will stay on at Palmeiras for the time being before moving to the Spanish capital in the summer of 2024, when he is 18 years of age.
It is without doubt an expensive operation for Real Madrid which could rise up to €72 million. €35 million of the transfer fee is fixed, €25 million is related to bonuses and the other €12 million are related to taxes.
Thus, it is safe to say that there is a huge amount of risk involved in such a move, but at the same time, Real Madrid were not the only club willing to take it. In fact, there were other clubs in the race to sign the Brazilian wonderkid as well but Los Blancos ultimately came out on top.
Why did Endrick pick Real Madrid over others though? It looks like it came down to the project that the club presented to him. As reported by ESPN Brasil, Endrick’s manager Fred Pena said:
"“It turned out that there were three clubs that had financial and sporting stability and could do this planning. Each one with their cards on the table, presenting a project to the athlete, that’s part of the persuasion. It’s the key part, where you show yourself to him. At that moment, which is effectively the presentation of the project, Real Madrid presented an unbeatable project for him, an irrefutable proposal.”"
Why Endrick picked Real Madrid over other clubs revealed
Endrick is one of the most highly rated talents in the world. Many people have already compared him to Ronaldo Nazario while the belief in Brazil is that he is the biggest talent to come out of the nation since Neymar.
Having not won a World Cup since 2002 and disappointed this time around as well, despite having arguably the most complete squad in the tournament, it would not be a stretch to call Endrick the next big hope of Brazilian football.
Let’s see how things turn out for him in the future. Real Madrid have a great track record when it comes to transforming Brazilian wonderkids into first-team superstars though. Hopefully, they’ll repeat the trick with Endrick as well.