EchoBlog

There is a lovely phrase Brazilians use when talking about the most talented young footballers, those who appear blissfully unbound by received wisdom. They are said to be “queimando etapas” — burning through stages.

Age categories? Slow and steady progress? Pah! Free your mind, amigo. Pass the kerosene and the matches. Let’s see how high the flames can go.

Advertisement

At which point, enter Endrick.

Early last year, aged 15, he was the standout player at the annual scouting mecca that is the Copinha, Brazil’s premier under-20 tournament. He was playing — and scoring — for the first team at Palmeiras before the end of October. By mid-November, he had won a Brazilian championship medal and been named the breakout star of the season. On December 15, he agreed to sign for Real Madrid.

That smouldering heap of ashes in the corner is all that is left of a document marked, “Conventional career plan, 2022”.

You may, by now, be familiar with the genesis of the deal that will take Endrick to Spain when he turns 18 next July. The excitement about his ascent was such that you might know a little of the back story, too. His inclusion in the senior Brazil squad for World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Argentina over the next week has sparked fresh interest.

With these big deferred transfers, however, the in-between times tend to be blurry.

Endrick has not spent the last 11 months in a waiting room, gazing at a photo of the Santiago Bernabeu. He has been trying to maintain momentum.

Ronaldo, Neymar and Vinicius Junior all burned through stages. So too did countless players you have never heard of, people whose Wikipedia pages contain sections with titles like ‘Subsequent struggles’ and ‘Early retirement’. Excitement, however inevitable, must be tempered with caution.

In Brazilian football, however, caution is often in short supply. Patience, too. That applies both in the good times and when things become tricky, as they did for Endrick at the start of this year.

After eight games of the season, he had failed to score, and, relative to what he had shown a few months before, he looked slightly out of sorts. There was enough background noise that Palmeiras coach Abel Ferreira felt obliged to sound a note of caution. “There isn’t one bloody press conference in which you don’t mention him,” said Ferreira. “Leave the kid in peace.”

Advertisement

Two weeks later, after being substituted during a game against Red Bull Bragantino, Endrick pulled a training shirt over his head and sobbed. “Obviously there is tremendous pressure on him and he is trying to deal with that,” said Ferreira. “He needs a hug.”

When Endrick eventually did find the net, turning home from close range against Agua Santa in the first leg of the Sao Paulo state championship final in early April, he made light of the situation. “I think I’m ready to be a starter for the under-20 side now,” he said — a winking rebuke to one commentator who had called for him to be demoted back to the youth team.

Endrick also scored in the second leg of that final to seal another title for Palmeiras, then netted the first goal of their Campeonato Brasileiro campaign. But more frustration lay ahead: he lost his place in the starting XI and failed to make it off the bench in three of the next five matches, prompting a memorable headline on the GloboEsporte website: “Where’s Endrick?”

The answer took a while to emerge. Endrick scored against Goias and Athletico Paranaense, reaching 10 senior goals before his 17th birthday, but continued to find himself out of the side. Ferreira favoured the more experienced Rony as the lone striker, while the signing of Artur from Bragantino made it harder for Endrick to secure one of the wide berths.

There has, at times, been an undercurrent of tension between manager and player — or at least between manager and the Endrick Industrial Complex. “I think about what’s best for Palmeiras, not the player,” Ferreira said in August after being asked, for the millionth time, why he wasn’t picking Endrick. “It’s normal to have moments of inspiration and others when things are harder. We have to learn to deal with that.”

These things can get out of hand pretty quickly. Egos can bubble over. When Neymar was playing for Santos before his move to Europe with Barcelona, his stroppy behaviour with his own manager prompted one rival coach to opine that Brazil was “creating a monster”. It is to Endrick’s credit that there was no blow-up, that any annoyance he felt during this time did not congeal into something more ugly.

Advertisement

“All a player needs is confidence and freedom, to be happy,” he said in September. “That’s what I have been seeking since the start of the year.”

It is fair to say that he has found it since the start of November.

He found the net twice in a ludicrous 4-3 comeback against Botafogo, got the winning goal against Athletico Paranaense and was on target against Internacional at the weekend. He has scored as many league goals in the last 15 days as he did in the previous six months.

The Botafogo game in particular felt like a watershed moment.

Ferreira played a front two, meaning Endrick was able to drift about in search of the ball and take responsibility. After the first of his goals — a drilled finish after he warped through a cluster of defenders — he grabbed the ball and told his team-mates to keep passing to him. They did just that. By the final whistle, Palmeiras were back in the title race and Endrick’s name was on everyone’s lips.

“Magisterial,” former Brazil striker Tostao called him. “The new system has helped the kid a lot. Before, he played in a fixed position — as an attacker with his back to goal or as a winger. Now he has more space to use his incredible speed and ability.

“This could be the start of a phenomenal career.”

In April, Endrick was on the cover of the Brazilian edition of GQ magazine.

“Sometimes I ask myself why there is so much media talk about me,” he said in the accompanying interview. “I didn’t ask for it. Sometimes it goes over the limit. ‘Ah, he’s the new Pele.’ No one is going to replicate Pele. But now there’s no escaping it.

“I always said I would like to have every Brazilian on my side, but I now understand that it’s not possible. There will always be people who want to attack me.”

He may be proven right on that front at some point, but the remarkable thing about Endrick at this stage of his journey is just how popular he is. They adore him at Sao Paulo-based Palmeiras, of course, but it’s not a partisan thing. Opposition supporters pester him for autographs; a Flamengo fan asked him to pose with his baby after a match at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro. He is the nation’s darling.

Advertisement

This is partly a factor of his age. There is also his infectious enthusiasm on the pitch. Maybe there is also some kind of subconscious long-term planning here; if Endrick is to be Brazil’s No 9 in the future, best to embrace him early.

His popularity means that commercial commitments will inevitably mount up.

Last year, Endrick was sponsored by a chain of dental surgeries and a fantasy football app. Now he is represented by Roc Nation Sports Brazil, who also work with Vinicius Jr, Lucas Paqueta and Gabriel Martinelli. He is set to become the face of New Balance, and it won’t stop there.

“He has had tens of offers from companies in different sectors,” says his agent, Fred Pena. “But decisions will only be made after the Campeonato Brasileiro. He is concentrating on that.”

For the next week, Endrick’s focus will be on the national team. He is not likely to start away against Colombia today (Thursday), but that hardly diminishes the achievement of getting called up at 17. He is the youngest player to be named in the senior squad since Ronaldo in 1993.

“He has the potential to be one of the greats,” said Fernando Diniz, Brazil’s interim head coach. “He’s enjoying his best spell of form, playing against Brazil’s biggest teams and standing out. This isn’t pressure; it’s a prize.”

The decision was not met with universal approval.

“He was selected because of those two astonishing games, especially the game against Botafogo,” said Paulo Vinicius Coelho, a newspaper columnist and pundit. “He was called up because he has been in the headlines, because he’s a media figure. Is that enough? It surprised me.”

This, though, is not the majority view. There is, once more, the crackle of electricity around the national team, a kind of big-ticket anticipation. Endrick’s season may only recently have clicked into gear, but there is widespread agreement that this — after all due caveats about the fragility of potential — is where he is meant to be.

Advertisement

“The kid has been blessed by God,” said Ferreira. “Diniz understood that he deserved this. I’m absolutely sure that he will become a reference point.”

“It’s a vision of the future,” said Diniz, “of what this boy might become.”

GO DEEPER

Inside the deal that saw Real Madrid win the race for Endrick, the Brazilian wonderkid

(Top photo: Buda Mendes via Getty Images)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57lGltbnFgbXxzfJFsZmppX2aDcLHNnamim5tir7Ot2aKjZqqVlrluucCdqaKcXaWurbnEoqmaq18%3D