Although Brazilian phenom Endrick's loan to Ligue 1's Lyon began incredibly well with goals and chances created galore, Paulo Fonseca has suddenly made the Real Madrid player's time in France turn into a nightmare.
After publicly calling Endrick out before this weekend's Ligue 1 action, via Andres Onrubia Ramos of Diario AS, the Lyon manager has now officially benched Endrick for Sunday's league game against Lorient. Starting in the place of him? Of all people, Rachid Ghezzal.
Here are the incredibly harsh comments Fonseca made about his young star, I'm not satisfied with his play. I'm not here to sink the players. But I expect more from him. He told me he was a bit tired from his trip from the United States last week, but he has the responsibility to do more. He has the obligation to give more. We need it. Right now, we're relying on a player (Afonso Moreira) who was playing in Portugal's third division a year ago and who does take on his responsibilities. If Afonso has that courage, the others must do the same. Endrick needs to be more available. In Angers, he stayed in his comfort zone. He didn't try to position himself between the lines or get on the ball's trajectory and offer other solutions to the team. He has to work harder."
Endrick is clear of Paulo Fonseca
Nothing Fonseca is saying here actually makes any sense, and it all sounds like the worthless babbling of a manager who is losing games (yet again in his career, he's never had success in Europe despite many high profile jobs) and just finding a player loaned from another club to bash as his scapegoat. He can pin the problems all on one man, Endrick, and make a scene instead of having to answer for the fac that Lyon have not won a game since February 15 - nearly two months ago.
Bcause when you actually watch the games, the opposite is true. Endrick is playing very well, running hard, and creating chances. He is open, yet his teammates shoot instead of passing. He passes them the ball, and then they send the ball into row Z. And yet Paulo Fonseca wants to sit here and applaud them while publicly demonizing a young kid from another club, potentially alienating Lyon to one of their biggest buyers in Real Madrid.
It is more horrible man management from a coach who failed miserably at Roma, Lille, AC Milan, and now Lyon. At no club in the top five of Europe has Fonseca been remotely labeled a succes, and every team he has been at has literally gotten substantially better the season after he was fired.
Meanwhile, Endrick has 7 goal contributions in 10 Ligue 1 games since joining Lyon and is by far the team's leader in key passes per game and dribbles completed per game for the full 2025/26 season. If Fonseca thinks Endrick is the problem, then maybe he's just trying to lose. Or maybe he is as lousy of a manager as his record indicates.