By Peter Sember
Real Madrid have reached a full verbal agreement for Endrick Felipe at €60 million, which will potentially go up to €72 million.
With this agreement, Endrick is expected to join Real in July 2024, when he turns 18 years.
Just like other footballing gemstones out of Brazil, Endrick is primed to be one of the biggest names in world football in the future.
A left-footed eccentric striker who is compared to Ronaldo and Romario, both from Brazil.
The young dazzling spark commands an enormous stat on his young shoulders.
He joined Palmeiras’ youth team at the age of 11 years and scored 165 goals in 169 appearances in 5 years.
He was promoted to the senior team in October 2022 at the age of 16, he famously announced himself in the Brazilian football top tier with an emphatic goal against Athletico Paranaense after coming on as a 2nd half-substitute, the match ended 3-1 in favour of Palmeiras.
He became Brazil’s second-youngest goalscorer behind Torinho de Matos.
So far, he has scored 3 goals in 7 appearances with Palmeiras.
Success Stories from Gemstone Hunting at Real
In recent years, Real Madrid brought in Vinicius Jnr. and Rodrygo de Goes who have established themselves in the first team.
Though, Rodrygo is still an understudy to the astonishing Karim Benzema.
But their infusion into the senior team did not require experience-fetching loans to smaller teams.
Vinicius Jnr. joined Real from Flamengo in a £38 million deal in 2018.
In 5 years, he has been a thorn in the flesh of defenders with his dribbling skills, high pace, and playmaking abilities.
Those productive years have birthed 7 befitting trophies at the Santiago Bernabeu for the young Brazilian, scoring 31 goals and key heartbreaking assists in the process at just 22 years.
Rodrygo de Goes, on the other hand, joined Real a year after Vinicius in 2019, in a €45 million deal from Santos.
He has won 6 trophies, pushing and showing glimpses of replacing Karim Benzema when he eventually leaves the limelight in the next two years.
Does this Hunting always go as Planned?
Unfortunately, Martin Odegaard and Takefusa Kubo’s experiences have shown that early reaping doesn’t always produce the required fruits.
Odegaard was fancied by all the big boys in the game; Bayern, Man Utd, Barcelona, PSG, and a host of other teams.
But he eventually settled for Real which was a dismal boomerang.
He was shipped out on loan to several teams and went back to Real but could not display at the required standards.
His eventual offload to Arsenal has yielded fruits for the Premier League giants who are scuppering for a Premier League title this season.
Takefusa Kubo is another casualty who was nascent-reaped from Tokyo.
He joined Real from Tokyo FC.
Was shipped out for further studies to RCD Mallorca, Getafe CF, Villarreal FC, and Real Sociedad. Those errands could not amount to an establishment in the senior team, thereby pitching out permanently to Real Sociedad.
Wise Choices People Make
History has shown that building from the bottom to the top in football is a better choice.
That is what Christiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane, and other superstars proved.
Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland have also streamlined their philosophy in that school of thought.
They were, as usual, chased by everyone but decided to take extra lessons at Borussia Dortmund for proper forging.
Haaland especially has an outstanding support system. The dream has always been to play for Real Madrid at the highest level but having the patience of moving from Molde to Red Bull Salzburg and Borrusia Dortmund and now at Manchester City is a coordinated way of climbing the ladder barefooted.
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No surprise he has Alfie Haaland, his father, a former defender with Nottingham Forest, Leeds United, and Manchester City, to listen to.
He was also opportune to have one of the most successful, meanest, and craftiest football agents in the person of Mino Raiola. Bellingham would soon join Liverpool for further studies but the ultimate dream is not far-fetched.
World Cup Outlook
The Quarter Final matches of the FIFA World Cup, Qatar 2022 will commence today with the South American giants and this edition’s favorites Brazil against the Balto Slavic gentle fiends Croatia, who exceeded expectations at the FIFA World Cup in Russia, 2018 by losing out to France in the finals.
The two countries have met on four occasions with Brazil having a better record.
3 wins and a draw in favour of Brazil.
Two FIFA World Cup meetings and two friendlies amongst them.
16:00 Brazil Vs Croatia
20:00 Netherlands Vs Argentina
At the moment, the two teams are playing at the same strength but the Dutch can only come out unscathed if they can tame Lionel Messi who has been a delight to watch at the tournament.
Twice they have met, In 2003, the Netherlands beat Argentina 1-0 in a friendly game.
While Argentina thumped the Netherlands on penalties in the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
