Endrick is a kid who has been in the spotlight in Brazil since he was 11 and has high expectations at 17. I have not been closely following football for very long, and this is the first time I see this. Is that common? Did this media circus happen with Ronaldo, Neymar, Messi, CR7 and other young talents in football who went on to be great? I guess I’m just fearful that this much pressure on a kid might mean he doesn’t match expectations, so i’m looking for some success stories that came from situations similar to his haha.
Freddy Adu anyone?
He’s destined to Real Madrid, that on its own is a pressure, look at Arda Guler, everyone is waiting for him, if he was scouted by Real Betis, the hype would have died by now, look at the kid from Ajax to West Ham, he’s very good but the hype is dead around him.
At the same time look at a lad like Odegaard who everyone was talking about at such a crazy young age. It had appeared as though he flopped at Madrid and has since become one of the best players in the PL. Could even say the same about KDB. Sometimes it might look like a player flopped, but sometimes that player gets lucky elsewhere.
I am someone who has watched football for 20+ years now, and I have watched South American quite abit over the past decade. I have known about Endrick for the past 2-3 years now. I say this as a Barcelona fan, that kid is special. I do think he is more talented than Vinicius, who was dubbed to be the best talent since Neymar, but I think that has died a bit now since Vini has been incredibly underwhelming in for the NT comparatively to Neymar even at their age.
Out of the players who you’ve listed, the player that received the least amount of media circus was Cristiano. He was very talented but he wasn’t clear cut away and largest talent. I remember people saying that Quaresma was far more talented than he was, but then we saw the trajectory of his career.
Certainly, could be because of how South American is with football and how much the football world reveres the talent that comes out of there, they will always be put on a pedestal based on their potential. R9 was literally called “the phenom”, injuries altered his career. His career numbers early in his career were superior to that of Messi and Ronaldo, ages 19-21.
Messi despite not traditionally coming out of the Argentine league, to break into a Barcelona side that had Ronaldinho, Eto’o and such at 17, drawing incredibly amount of comparison to Maradona really because of their play style and physical build being so similar. He was already getting insane praise going through the youth system, Ronaldinho even said himself that the best player at the club wasn’t even himself, it was Messi and he had not made his full debut yet. Messi had an insane amount of expectations, and really only fulfilled it at 35 with the WC.
Neymar is also another interesting case, because he came from Santos, the club that produced Pele. Neymar was also one of the leading players to win Copa Libertadores, the first one since Pele. He also had a very flamboyant playstyle similar to that of Ronaldinho, so they talent and hype was justified.
A lot of times, these expectations make or break the player, its just the reality of the world. There has been many examples where comparison have broke a kid, which is sad. But the ones who truely make it to the top are the ones who embraces it. Endrick has been on record stating he doesn’t like the pressure that is brought onto him because its a lot, but unfortunately, everyone expects great things from him.
Agree with most of this but sorry but in what universe has Vini been underwhelming… he is incredible for his age
I stated he is underwhelming for Brazil, not his club career. There is no way you can excuse how poor he has been for Brazil when you consider he is the second best Brazilian in the world at worst.
It is at the point that most Brazilian people have accepted that he isn’t even going to reach Neymar’s level for Brazil. The fact that the fear factor of Brazil isn’t even Brazil, it’s Neymar.
There is no way Messi just met his expectations now at 35. Dude was already being called the GOAT at 22. Clearly surpassing everyone’s expectations way before the age of 35.
It’s an oldhead/newcomers thing. Newcomers are more impressionable and have been calling Messi the GOAT for years, but older people generally saw more Messi-level players and need more for a player in order to go with the hype. In that sense, Messi only reached his potential with the world cup.
And before you disagree, consider that from now on, you’ll compare all the newcomers to Messi. You’ll become one of the very exigent oldheads too.
It’s part of how easily accessible everything is due to the internet along how much more investment has been put into scouting younger talent in the recent years.
I don’t think the media circus was as bad with Ronaldos, Messi or Robinho. But it was with Neymar, Vinicius or Odegaard in which they had weekly highlights of their games either in their home countries or with youth teams.
For kids who are believed to be so promising, it is. And, yes, it creates a lot of pressure, not always in a positive way. Neymar, Vini Jr., Fat Ronaldo and Rodrygo, just to name a few Brazilians, faced the same treatment. They all became top tier footballers, but if you take Neymar, for example, you get a 32-year-old spoiled man-child. Ronaldo hat a breakdown hours away from the '98 final.
I don’t remember Ripped Ronaldo getting the same treatment, he was promising, yes, but I really have no memory of that. Maybe he rose slowly (by slowly I mean “until he became a pro”), maybe I just don’t know about the media on him. Barça, on the other hand, “protected” Messi very well. We would hear about him, and all, but he wasn’t in the spotlight the whole time as a youngster.
But, you know, just take all the “new Messis” that flopped at Barça and you’ll see that: 1. it’s much harder to establish yourself as a professional, and 2. the impact of all this attention isn’t always good. There are many, many more failed wonderkids than there are footballing superstars.
Now, you have to consider also that many high-level players only came to get the attention of the media and the public already in the professional scenario.
C. Ronaldo just wasn’t that good when he was young. I mean everyone knew he was talented, but he was considered just one of the many talented players, rather than the next big thing. No one was predicting he’ll become one of the best of all time, when he was 18-20.
Messi came into a great Barca team, that was already full of superstars and winning everything. I think that helped him, since the spotlight was still on Ronaldinho and he also wasn’t considered a saviour or something like that. He also didn’t play in Argentina and didn’t have that pressure.
At his 23 he will do an eriksen + aguero and gets stucked in the cadaver box forever to join maradona after a ferocious foul from the GOAT of football ferran torres and leads Valencia to their 1st ever ucl
So keep a close eye on him ( even though we can see him if he wears black cloths or under black background settings) enjoy him , cockride him , praise him as much as you can . The tragedy will be inevitable
You feminine docile reditors can tell whatever bs , see you all after it happens.
#viscaferran #ferranistheonlygoat
Jerked too hard nephew
Happens all the time mate. Happened to me.
Anyone remember Kerlon and his seal dribble? He was a top scorer in one of those youth tournaments and his seal dribble was the next big thing in football. This was before social media and internet was just becoming popular. I remember watching some highlights where defenders would always foul him when he did his seal dribble.
Martin Odegaard had some level of exposure at a young age as well and was touted around a lot of clubs and signed by Real Madrid quite young as well
Man has shared the same locker room along the likes of ronaldo, ramos, modric, and jorginho. Goated
He is a very talented young man but his ratings are exaggerated
As a Real Madrid fan, this guy better be the next R9 without injuries, or else we’re completely fucked. So many among our fanbase believe he’s gonna immediately occupy the starting striker position once he arrives and I have a bad feeling that the board thinks the same way. That’s way too much pressure for a 17 year old, I think we should wait at least 3-4 years before (and if) he is ready for pretty much the most important role any footballer in the world could have, being the starting number 9 of Real Madrid.
I wish we could have bought an actual world class and proven striker like Kane instead of chasing every 17 year old available, but it is what it is I guess.
I doubt it makes much difference compared to every other young player who goes to a big academy - massive amount of pressure on young players to succeed in general, only 1% or so make it to a pro contract.
It is fairly common to have some young players hyped up - Kendry Paez is another youngster already signed for £10m+ whilst still playing in Ecuador.
Look up Freddy Adu! He was touted as next Pele.
He played in MLS as young as 14 I believe and was on TV and being interviewed etc. I think he was burned out. Ashame really as who knows what might have happened if he was left to grow for a while and not play with adults at 14 etc.
Yeah this is common… football is littered with kids who were not as good as they were hyped up. Can’t believe it took to the last post to see Mr Adu!!
Media circus was not the same before the era of social media. So no. I was a big football fan growing up and I never heard of Messi or Ronaldo before they started doing well at pro level, which is when they really started showing up on television. I see posts about Endrick and all sorts of other U15s since he was 15, on the other hand.
It’s the sheer volume and accessibility of media we consume. More and more content is always needed, so it’s natural that one of those points of expansion would be making celebrities out of younger footballers.