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.
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.