Brazilian wonderkid Endrick has explained why he snubbed a move to Chelsea in favour of securing his ‘dream’ transfer to Real Madrid. The teenager will head to the Santiago Bernabeu in July once he turns 18.
He’ll be in Madrid again this week as part of the Brazil squad that faces Spain on Tuesday night, but not before a trip to London to face England at Wembley. If things had gone to plan for Chelsea, it would have been a perfect warm-up ahead of a permanent move to Stamford Bridge this summer.
Instead, it was the 14-time Champions League winners who agreed a £52million deal to sign Endrick from Palmeiras. The youngster is set to join up with fellow countrymen Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo after recently meeting his new teammates, including Jude Bellingham.
Endrick has been tipped to follow a similar path to Vinicius and Rodrygo and become a crucial player for Carlo Ancelotti’s side. The 17-year-old is expected to reach the very top of the game and there’s a huge expectation over what he’ll be able to produce at Madrid.
However, things could have gone differently for Endrick after he revealed he was close to joining the Blues and moving to England. Speaking to The Athletic, the talented youngster said: “At one point, there was a lot of talk about Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe for Madrid and that was when there was strong interest from Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain.
“Of course, they are big and important teams. I am very interested in them and they would be excellent options.
“I was attracted by the Premier League, the city of London and the fact that English is the economically dominant language in the world. And obviously Chelsea is a strong brand that has won two Champions Leagues.”
Unfortunately for the Blues, Endrick was unable to pass up the chance to complete his dream move and play for Madrid. The young Brazilian also referred to the excitement of potentially playing alongside Kylian Mbappe – if his highly-anticipated move from Paris Saint-Germain goes through.
“I was told that it rains a lot in London, but that wouldn’t be a problem because, as my father used to say, I always liked playing in the rain,” Endrick added. “But I always made it clear to my agent that my dream was Real Madrid.”
“Whenever there are high-level players within the team, the team will develop better, and consequently, it will be able to win in attitude, right? So whatever is best for Real Madrid and the entire team, let it be done.
“I just want to be happy playing my football like I always wanted. Obviously, if I can play with Vinicius, Rodrygo or Kylian it will be something very good, but Florentino [Perez] and all the people around him know what to do which will be better for the club.”
