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.
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.
Tbf to Messi, the expectations on him were at times just stupid. To expect him to win everything in a team sports. If football was an individual sports, like badminton, he would have won World Cup many times before the age of 30. And he demonstrated that with the amount of Ballon d’or he won.
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.
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.