Real Madrid-bound Endrick on World Cup hopes, admiring Ronaldo

Europe’s defenders higher be careful — a striker is on his manner who goals to be singing alongside to their ache.

Brazilian sensation Endrick joins Real Madrid when he turns 18 in the course of subsequent 12 months. And regardless of his youth, he’s a participant who has already made the transition from promise to actuality. Palmeiras produced a late burst to assert the Brazilian league on the ultimate day of the season, snatching the title with eight wins and two attracts of their final 11 video games.

Their high scorer within the run in was Endrick — and time and time once more he was developing with the decisive objectives. And, as rival defenders testified, he was doing it whereas buzzing a tune to himself.

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“I do it to keep myself calm during the game,” Endrick says with a smile. “If my mind is relaxed then I’m taking better decisions.”

He is not going to be drawn on the repertoire. “There are a few songs going round my head, in different styles of music,” he says throughout a visit to New Balance HQ in Boston as a part of his new footwear deal.

Endrick was dancing in the course of Palmeiras’ match in opposition to Fluminense 😂 pic.twitter.com/gR1gHOjTKB

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 3, 2023

And it might not be a whole shock if a few of them had been written nicely earlier than he was born. There is a retro really feel to him. When he just lately turned up for obligation to hitch the Brazil nationwide group, his hair and garments gave him the air of somebody who had simply stepped out of a black-and-white photograph from the late Nineteen Fifties. It was a marked distinction with the platinum hair favoured by a lot of his era.

“My mum’s an influence,” he says. “But it’s my thing as well. I watch films and pick up tips on how to present myself, especially because I’m going to Europe, where the look is less scandalous, more formal.”

But contained in the retro look is a totally trendy citizen of planet soccer, who from the very begin had his sights set on starring on the opposite facet of the Atlantic.

“I grew up with two dreams. I watched the Brazilian League and the Copa Libertadores, and so I really wanted to make my mark in Brazil first. But moving to a big European club was something I had always dreamt about. I would watch Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid winning the Champions League, it was something natural to feel a connection with the club.

“It’s a membership I’ve liked since I used to be a child, and so it is actually good to know that I’m going there. But I’m not there but. Obviously, it is good to consider teaming up with Rodrygo, Vinícius Júnior, Jude Bellingham. But for the time being I’m watching as a supporter. I’m not considering a lot about how I can match into the group. For the subsequent few months, I’ll be a Palmeiras participant and that is the place my focus shall be,” Endrick stated.

He has considerable history with the club. Originally from Brasilia, Endrick moved to Sao Paulo to join Palmeiras at the age of 10. His father sent out videos of his talented son to interested clubs. Palmeiras came back with an offer of an opportunity for the son and a job as a caretaker for the father, and so Endrick came through the ranks of the traditional club of Sao Paulo’s Italian community. One of the club’s nicknames is “the academy,” and that is the way that Endrick used it. Palmeiras for him has been a home, but also a kind of academic institution preparing him for the challenges ahead.

“I take my work very critically,” he says. “So since I’ve had contact with the senior squad I’ve made some extent of observing, of listening and speaking to the skilled gamers, akin to Gustavo Gómez, Weverton and Marcos Rocha (veteran centre-back, goalkeeper and right-back respectively) to study all the pieces that is going on and all that is concerned in being an expert footballer.”

One of the things he has already learned is that stardom takes a toll. “I attempt to reply all of the questions that the journalists ask me. There are some questions that may make you’re feeling uncomfortable. The solely place I’ve privateness now could be at residence with my household,” he says.

“It’s the place I can fiddle with my brother, my mother and father, my girlfriend and my sister are there. So house is the place that I’m most calm, the place I’ve essentially the most enjoyable, surrounded by my household. But if that’s my favorite place, quantity two on the checklist is on the market on the pitch — that is my amusement park, my Disneyland,” Endrick adds.

The rides are all the more enjoyable when he is free to roam. “In the youth groups at Palmeiras I performed as an attacking midfielder, on the left wing, the proper wing, and now as a centre-forward I wish to have the liberty to maneuver round.”

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Real Madrid-bound Endrick wants a 2024 full of trophies

Teenage star Endrick speaks to ESPN ahead of his move from Palmeiras to Real Madrid in the summer of 2024.

One of the aspects of Endrick’s game that stands out is his appreciation of space. A stocky figure, he has a terrific burst of pace and an excellent left foot, but it is his ability to find the space to hurt the opposition that makes him especially dangerous. And there is that almost nonchalant acceptance of responsibility.

The game that effectively won the Brazilian title was at the start of November away to runaway leaders Botafogo. Palmeiras were 3-0 down at half-time and went back to the dressing room expecting a rocket from their fiery Portuguese coach Abel Ferreira. They did not get it.

Instead, as Endrick recalls, “he stated that we couldn’t presumably play any worse.” A teammate said that Ferreira told them they should approach the second half as if it was 0-0. The message worked. The team calmly returned to the field and won 4-3. Endrick scored two goals and the cameras showed him demanding the ball, an astonishing display of confidence that quickly saw him promoted to the Brazil squad for last month’s World Cup qualifiers.

This was another dream come true, but things did not work out as he had hoped. He came off the bench in defeats to Colombia and Argentina, making little impression as Brazil lost two qualifiers in a row and lost a qualifier at home — both for the first time.

“It was powerful,” he shrugs. “They had been tough video games in opposition to opponents who’re nicely above common.” But then again, perhaps he does not feel the same burden of pressure as previous generations. After all, the last time Brazil won the World Cup was four years before he was born. And his first memory of the tournament is a sobering thought.

“I used to be too younger for 2010,” he says, “so the primary one I bear in mind is 2014” — an experience bad enough to send a shiver down any Brazilian spine.

Pelé’s first World Cup memory was watching his father cry as he listened on the radio to Brazil’s defeat on home soil in 1950. Perhaps Endrick’s recollection of the infamous 7-1 defeat to Germany will serve as fuel for future triumphs.

“Of course,” he says, “that is one thing else that I dream about, successful the World Cup and giving the individuals an enormous cause for happiness.”

Don’t wager in opposition to it. One by one, the goals are being crossed off, one step at a time with a tune in his coronary heart.