From meme to World Cup hope? Youngster proving all his doubters wrong | OneFootball

At 15, he debuted for the pros, at 16, he scored double digits in the first league, and at 18, he transferred to Real Madrid for 47.5 million euros. Endrick had a meteoric rise, only to end up on the royal bench after his move to Europe and become a meme on the internet. Until now.

Because this winter, he followed up with a loan to Lyon. The right step to prove all his haters wrong and maybe even become Brazil's World Cup hope?

In the Lyon jersey, the offensive player has since impressively shown why, according to 'Transfermarkt.de', he was already worth 60 million euros at the age of 17. In just his second game for the French, the striker practically exploded. After his debut against Brest, where he recorded his first assist after eleven minutes, all dams broke against Metz. In the 5-2 away win, Endrick scored a hat-trick. A stroke of luck?

Hardly. To date, the Brazilian jewel has scored two more times and has been Lyon's player with the most goal involvements, shots on target, and successful dribbles since the start of the loan. Carlo Ancelotti seems to have noticed this as well.

According to the Spanish 'Marca', the former Real coach plans to nominate Endrick for the international matches in March against France and Croatia. The now 19-year-old last played for the Seleção almost a year ago. After that, he no longer played a role in the national team circle—also because he couldn't provide any arguments.

After a severe thigh injury in the summer, Endrick hardly played for Real. In eleven possible league games, he accumulated just eleven minutes of playtime. Meanwhile, he became a meme on the internet because he often watched the royal games apathetically from the bench.

That seems to be over for now. In Lyon, Endrick recently appeared unleashed, dazzling with strong dribbles and once again showing that he possesses one of the best shooting techniques of his generation.

In his homeland, the center forward has been considered a future superstar for years. However, he and his family never wanted to hear comparisons to Neymar and others.

"My mother always told me that I am not the new Neymar, Pelé, or Ronaldo. I am Endrick," he explained in June 2024 during his presentation in front of 70,000 Real fans at the Santiago Bernabéu.

If he maintains his current form, we will likely be talking about this Endrick in the future. Perhaps already after the 2026 World Cup.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE - AFP or licensors