The France captain's move is exciting for Los Blancos, but could destabilise the career of another player who will need minutes
Kylian Mbappe's pending move to Real Madrid will, presumably, lead to immense change in the Spanish capital. Systems will have to be redesigned. Marketing campaigns will have to be reworked. Ways of playing might need to be reimagined, while individual roles may be reinterpreted.
It's all a bit exciting – especially for those who will pack the Santiago Bernabeu for the coming years to watch Mbappe lead what should be one of Europe's great sides.
But it might not be so glitzy for everyone. Mbappe's arrival will mean Madrid score a lot of goals, sell a lot of tickets, and win a lot of things. But for another big signing, it could bring about an uncomfortable start to life in the Spanish capital.
Big-money Brazilian teenager Endrick, Carlo Ancelotti insisted earlier this week, will complete his summer move and suit up for Los Blancos in June. Two days before, though, scattered talk from the Brazilian media suggested that he might stick around in his native country for six more months – taking a common route of playing out the remainder of the South American campaign before turning his attention to Europe.
And although Los Blancos have remained adamant in their stance that Endrick will arrive as early as possible, there is some sense in letting one of the game's brightest young talents develop away from the Santiago Bernabeu spotlight – especially with another global megastar soon to saunter into town.
Fabio Menotti/PalmeirasPalmeiras want Endrick to stay
Reports emerged this week that Palmeiras want their star striker to stay until the end of the 2024 campaign – delaying his arrival in Madrid by up to six months. Club president Leila Pereira has already taken steps with the player's representatives, and, according to , is set to enter discussions with Real Madrid chief scout Juni Calafat. Palmeiras hope that the financial structure of their agreement with Los Blancos will offer valuable leverage in their negotiations – and convince the Liga club to allow the forward to stay.
Should the reigning champions remain in the hunt for silverware, that could keep Endrick in Brazil until December. A Copa Libertadores run – something the Brazilian side can cautiously hope for – would likely delay his arrival until January 2025.
There's previous here. It is, in fact, common practice to delay transfers from South America – not least because of the discrepancy of the football calendar. The Brazilian league runs from March until December, playing through the summer months usually used for the increasingly brief break for the European game.
Most recently, Barcelona did something similar with Vitor Roque, taking on the Brazilian striker in January – even though he was eligible to join the Catalan club in July. Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr, too, arrived on delayed transfers after heavy investment.
AdvertisementGettyThe Mbappe to Madrid situation
Mbappe, meanwhile, is very much on schedule. The Frenchman has, somehow, negotiated a rather clean exit from Paris – despite doing his apparent best to irritate the club hierarchy over the course of the last 18 months. In mid-February, he informed Nasser Al-Khelaifi of his intention to leave this summer, a few weeks after cryptically admitting that he had "an agreement" with the club chairman. Since then, he has reportedly agreed a contract with Real Madrid, accepted what is, by his standards, a cut-rate annual contract to play at the Santiago Bernabeu, and secured one of the biggest signing bonuses in the sport's history.
This is a player who has undergone turnarounds before. He seemed all set to join Los Blancos in May 2022, but famously rejected a miffed Florentino Perez to pen a deal that gave him both immense wealth and unprecedented transfer influence in Paris. You'd be forgiven to be a sceptic until the day that Mbappe kicks a ball in a Madrid kit under the Bernabeu lights.
Still, this seems real enough. Parisian fans have already started to boo Mbappe, while manager Luis Enrique has rotated his squad enough – benching Mbappe after an hour in the Parisians' clash with Rennes last weekend.
GettyHow Mbappe will block Endrick
Mbappe insisted in September 2022 that he doesn't suit the kind of football Madrid are going to want him to play. In a now-infamous Instagram story, the forward fired a shot at the Parisians' transfer work, criticising his club's failure to sign a central striker for him to operate off. In Madrid, though, it seems the France captain will have to swallow his pride. With Vinicius Jr a fixture on the left wing, and Rodrygo an emerging world-class presence on the right, Mbappe will likely be forced to play through the middle. This could be awkward, a Ballon d'Or-contending footballer asked to change his game – and doing so under the relentless scrutiny that comes with playing in Madrid white.
There's a knock-on effect here that could already destabilise the Madrid system. Most obviously it would mean a change in formation, Los Blancos ditching this year's 4-4-2 diamond and switching to Carlo Ancelotti's preferred 4-3-3. If Mbappe is asked to hold down a central role, Rodrygo, it would seem, has less room to roam. Jude Bellingham, too, will be expected to change his game. After developing into a Ballon d'Or contender as a goalscoring No.10, it figures he'll be pushed further back into a box-to-box role.
It's an inherently unstable environment for a youngster to stumble into. Although Endrick is a versatile attacking presence, he operates most effectively on either wing – Madrid's deepest positions. And if the goal here is to play as much as possible, and cut his teeth in elite competition, then a turbulent system doesn't appear to be the best format to do so.
Getty ImagesLearning from past failures
In October 2020, a microphone picked up a conversation between Karim Benzema and Ferland Mendy during half-time of Real Madrid's Champions League clash with Borussia Monchengladbach. In the brief clip, Benzema aired his grievances about playing with a then-19-year-old Vinicius.
"Brother don’t play to him. On my mother’s life. He is playing against us," he told the French full-back. Benzema didn't pass to Vinicius once in the second half of the game.
His complaints served as a microcosm of the difficulties foreign, specifically Brazilian, talents have found in Europe. For his first years in Spain – both for Madrid's B team and senior side – Vinicius was considered an expensive flop. Too flashy on the ball, and not clinical enough in key areas – the mercurial winger was branded the perfect example of a player with too much "samba" and not enough substance.
He has, of course, since turned things around, and is now regarded as one of the best in the world – and perhaps a future Ballon d'Or winner.
But others haven't been so fortunate. Reinier is still technically property of Real Madrid, and is on his third loan since making a big-money move from Flamengo in 2020. Kenedy, now of Real Valladolid, was an immensely-hyped prospect when he moved to Chelsea. Gabriel Barbosa, Lucas Piazon, Jo and Denilson all suffered the same fate. Endrick is more talented than all of them but past struggles suggest it could still go very wrong if he makes the move too soon.
