Tipped to better than Romario and Ronaldo, £60m Endrick snubs Chelsea to join Real Madrid

Real Madrid have beaten a host of European clubs, including Chelsea, to the signature of the 16-year-old Brazilian Endrick and will pay about £62 million to land the Palmeiras striker.

Endrick will join Real Madrid in July 2024, when he turns 18, with Palmeiras president Leila Pereira claiming the deal is “the biggest in the history of Brazilian football”.

Madrid will pay Palmeiras an initial fee of £30 million, with the rest due in performance-related add-ons.

Endrick is one of the most talked about young talents in football and had been coveted by several leading European clubs, with Chelsea trying to lure the teenager by hosting his family during a visit to the club’s Cobham training ground earlier this season.

Chelsea’s charm offensive even extended to deploying Thiago Silva, their highly respected 38-year-old Brazil centre back, to try to convince Endrick that Stamford Bridge was his ideal destination.

Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain were also among the frontrunners to sign the teenager.

But Real Madrid have made a strategic effort to snap up the most exciting Brazilian talents in recent years, ever since the club lost out on Neymar in 2013, when Barcelona signed the forward in a hugely controversial deal that infuriated Madrid president Florentino Pérez.

To avoid missing out again, Pérez flooded Brazil with talent-spotters in a concerted effort led by Real Madrid’s chief scout Juni Calafat.

Endrick follows Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo and Reinier Jesus in leaving Brazil for the Bernabéu in recent years. In a similarly structured deal to Endrick’s, Vinícius signed for Real in 2017, aged 17, and joined a year later from Flamengo for about £40 million.

After a patchy start in Spain, Vinícius, now 22, has become one of the world’s most lethal wide forwards.

Rodrygo, now 21, arrived from Santos in 2019 for a similar fee and played in all five of Brazil’s games at the World Cup in Qatar. Reinier, who is a year younger than Rodrygo, is yet to break through in Madrid and is currently on loan at fellow La Liga side Girona. Reinier joined Real from Flamengo for about £30 million in 2020.

Endrick became the youngest player to play for Palmeiras when he represented the first team, aged 16, in October and he helped them win the Brazilian title by scoring three goals in seven appearances. The left-footed striker had previously scored 165 goals in 169 games for Palmeiras’s youth teams.

“I want to thank Palmeiras, forever the club of my heart, for giving me everything necessary to become what I am today, for helping me achieve my dreams and for respecting my wishes and the wishes of my family,” Endrick said.

Meanwhile, former Brazilian international Jose Ferreira Neto on Rede Bandeirantes reacting to Endrick move to Madrid said  "It's a shame we're not going to see much of Endrick here in Brazil. He'll be better than Romario and Ronaldo," .

It's time to solve the million dollar question: how does Endrick play? First clarification: he is not like Vinicius or Rodrygo.

The 'jewel' of Palmeiras, unlike his compatriots, does not play as a winger. He plays as a No.9. He is, therefore, a bet for the future to succeed Karim Benzema.

Second clarification: he is a penalty box striker, but not a goal-hanger. He is left-footed, but nobody should think of him as the new Erling Haaland.

His physique and his style - he is 1.73 metres tall - make him more closely 'related' to Romario.

"On my social networks they always compare me to him. They say he was a guy who moved very well in the area and that's what I'm trying to do, even scoring headed goals, like him, without being too tall," Endrick said a year ago on UOL Esporte.

It's a comparison reinforced by journalist Diego Iwata: "He has more of Romario and Ronaldo than Vinicius. He is less fantasy and more finishing. He is small, short and decides quickly."

He handles short distances well, having a 'sixth sense' to win rebounds/dead balls in the area.

He also gets past his physical disadvantage with the electricity of his movements. He is a 'gunslinger': he executes very fast, not only when shooting, but also when turning.

In terms of finishing, he is quite accurate. And yet his shot is not characterised by being too powerful.