The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Sport Saturday
Boy from Brazil who slipped Chelsea’s grasp
London club were at front of the queue to sign Endrick but dallying over the fee gave Real Madrid chance to swoop
It was two years ago that Endrick, aged 15, went global, and, tonight, those inside Wembley might get a first glimpse of the Brazilian boy wonder with the world at his feet.
Chelsea fans, however, will cast a wistful eye over Endrick’s trip to London for Brazil’s friendly against England, as it will be Real Madrid’s Bernabeu Stadium, the venue of Brazil’s second game of this international break, that will become the forward’s permanent home.
Jude Bellingham will be on the opposition team today, but he and Endrick will become Real Madrid team-mates once the youngster has turned 18 on July 21.
This will not be their first meeting, as Endrick visited Madrid in December, when he met Bellingham and spoke with him in English.
Endrick’s mother, Cintia, father, Douglas, girlfriend, Gabriely Miranda, and agent, Frederico Pena, will be at Wembley and the Bernabeu to see his first trip to Europe as a senior international.
But playing outside South America will hold no fears. An incredible performance in Brazil’s Copa Sao Paulo de Futebol Junior Under-20 tournament, in which he led Palmeiras to the title with eight goals in seven games, meant that Endrick was the player scouts from the world’s top clubs flocked to France to watch in the 2022 Montaigu Tournament.
Endrick helped his country to their first success in the event since 1984, finishing as top scorer and player of the tournament.
“That was when the world really took notice,” Pena said. “People in football already knew him, but that’s when all of the top clubs came in, Manchester City, Liverpool, Paris St-Germain, Chelsea and, of course, Real Madrid.”
Pena, who also manages Vinicius Junior, signed Endrick as a client in 2020, but, because of Covid, could not watch him in the flesh until the following year.
“The first time we saw Endrick was in an under-13 tournament for Palmeiras and it was clear, even on videos, that he was a once-in-a-generation kind of talent,” he said. “He can play in four World Cups or even more, he can win the Ballon d’Or.”
Initially, Chelsea pushed hardest to sign Endrick, inviting his parents to their Cobham training ground, in
October 2022. Chelsea even found the family a church they would be able to attend. But negotiations with Palmeiras over the fee for a player who would not be able to join the club officially for almost two years dragged on and Real, who had set up a similar deal with Pena to sign Vinicius from Flamengo five years earlier, made their move.
“I think Real decided they were never going to miss another talent like Vini or Endrick after Neymar moved to Barcelona,” Pena said. “Maybe there is a lesson for Chelsea, because they were in front at the start. The boy’s parents visited Cobham and were impressed, but Chelsea were worried about the fee, and then when Real came in and were prepared to pay what Palmeiras wanted, it became almost impossible for them.”
It was in December 2022, just two months after he had made his senior debut for Palmeiras, that Real announced Endrick would join in a deal thought to be worth about £52million.
He has won two Brazilian league titles with Palmeiras, scoring 18 goals in 66 appearances, and last year became the youngest player to earn a senior Brazil call-up since Ronaldo in 1994. His two Brazil caps came against Colombia and Argentina last November.
“It’s a big moment for him, for sure,” Pena said of the games against England and Spain, on Tuesday.
“He’s already played in the Maracana for Brazil and he knows about Wembley and what it would mean to play there. Then there is the Bernabeu, which will soon be his home. Aged 17, it doesn’t get much better than that.”