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.
Neymar and Ronaldo are two success stories of sorts, coming from Brazil. Both got a lot of attention from very early on (17 or 18) and both reached the top of the sport. Neymar was even more hyped than Endrick is being now, really. Robinho and Pato are two cases where the players failed to reach their potential (Pato is probably a good comp to Endrick’s current hype, as Pato was also a legitimately good player at 17 but got messed up by injuries).
Messi and Mbappe were very hyped from very early on too, to name players outside of Brazil. Both were being invited to top clubs in their early 10s and offered positions in youth academies in exchange for good money, and both were treated as the next big things when they were 17 or 18.