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.
Media circus was not the same before the era of social media. So no. I was a big football fan growing up and I never heard of Messi or Ronaldo before they started doing well at pro level, which is when they really started showing up on television. I see posts about Endrick and all sorts of other U15s since he was 15, on the other hand.
It’s the sheer volume and accessibility of media we consume. More and more content is always needed, so it’s natural that one of those points of expansion would be making celebrities out of younger footballers.