That era had Owen, Morientes on the bench with Raul - R9 starting while starting defense and DM were poor. Here we have Benz starting as No.9, Fede, Camavinga, Tcho, Rudiger etc fighting for a starting spot. Couldn't be any more different but go on with such comparison because no fancy back up ST so far. [emoji1]
In Calafat we trust... English media is pushing him to chelsea already- Meanwhile there are reports says Endrick is a big Farca-Xavi fan and might choose them over us. I have seen only highlights of him playing against kids half his size.. but all reports suggest he is the next big thing after neymar.
Zidane and Pavones policy was because RM had limited revenue then and spent on ZZ, R9, Beckham from 2001-03 while no reinforcements came in defense. That policy changed in 2004 itself as club spent big money on Walter Samuel, Woodgate, Ramos in subsequent years as we became No.1 in terms of revenue due to Galacticos. What YS mentioned has been RM policy pretty much since 2009 with rare exceptions like Mariano (out of desperation as Lope wanted a No.9 and Valencia's 70 ME rated striker Rodrigo was his first choice). Valencia asked 60 ME to Atletico a year later and they didn't bite either. He eventually ended up at Leeds for 30 ME. Very mediocre there and couldn't score at Valencia either except one fluke season. RM either went for already proven stars or highly rated talents and depended on cantera products since 2009 like Granero, Nacho, Lucas, Morata, Jese etc for additional depth. No policy is error proof and there has been some Galactico flops like Kaka', Hazard and young talent flops like Canales, Theo due to various factors. But vast majority of such signings have panned out. Young players we signed from 2009-12 were Benz, Ozil, Di Maria, Coentrao, Khedira etc. Most of them were already playing for prominent NTs. Ozil was already a star from 2010 WC. With the arrival of Calafat as chief scout, club also started identifying and signing foreign talents at the age of 16-17 starting with Odegaard, Fede, Vini, Rodrygo etc which gave us an edge in a market where signings genuine Galacticos became difficult due to oil state clubs. Endrick would be continuation of that if we get him.
The transfer game of has changed. A few years ago, VJ and Rodrygo were probably on everyone's radar, but Calafat got to them early. By now, everyone knows and respects about our youth scouting department, especially for Brazilians. Every Brazilian kids linked to us will be hyped up. "Lets get him before Madrid does," I am pretty sure everyone is talking about it now. We also won our 14th CL title with those kids. So signing Endrick will be more difficult. He is not our secret. Everyone knows about him. The media hype is also very strong. The demand for him will go up and up. It will come down to transfer fees. We paid 46 million for VJ. Endrick will cost much more.
If Farca paid Santos a reported €86m for Neymar, I’m guessing Endrick will go for €120m easy if this hype train keeps going for the kid. I don’t think Flo would go that high for him, unless the club scouts agree he’s worth it. That’s a transfer you can’t swing and miss on for us since we don’t have oil money.
Santos only made 17 ME from Neymar sale because his family and private fund owned most of his rights. That's the price Santos paid to keep Neymar that long in Brazil. Endrick 100% rights is owned by his club. His buyout clause is 45 ME right now and jumps to 60 ME when he turns 18. Most likely a European club will strike a deal for Endrick for 60 ME in coming months. Neymar moved after playing in Brazilian league for 4 seasons. Flo paid 45 ME to Flamengo for Vini at 16 when player and club agreed that to be the buyout clause. Vini's family got 8 ME and his agent got 7 ME. Now how is Endrick comparable to Neymar when latter already was a superstar in Brazilian league for years? The point of these signings early on is to avoid 150 ME it cost Barca to sign Neymar at 21. Rodrygo also moved for his buyout clause fee.
Actually, Endrick reminded me of Freddy Adu. I am not saying that he fakes his age, but they have similar builds and body movement. I just looked at Matheus Nascimento's statistics. He has zero goal this season in Brazil's Serie A, but he at least is playing in the top flight. His role is mainly the off the bench. I don't think Perez will pull the trigger on him yet.
Just what I said, Zidanes y Pavones, or pretty similar to that. Just add the scouting for young players part. Endrick isn't even a guarantee because he isn't some hidden gem. And I'm worried the club might be used as bargaining chip again since Madrid isn't the biggest spender anymore.
Then Benzema, our very strongest asset, is also our biggest potential weakness, because in order to keep him happy we can't properly construct the team. If he can't guarantee that he won't get injured, then we shouldn't guarantee him 38 starts out of 38 games. Every team has at least a minimal rotation at the striker spot. I know hes Balon Dor, but hes also 35 and he needs load management whether he likes it or not, for his own good.
So Camavinga, Tcho, Militao etc are Pavones in your book? Endrick is 16 and Nascimento is 18. Endrick just recently got called up for senior team as well so he'd probably have a ton of Brazilian league experience before he turns 18. As for Adu, sounds like a very random comparison. Dominating youth level in Brazil that has a long history of producing world class players is one thing and getting hyped up in USA a decade ago when they barely had talents good enough to play for mid table La Liga/PL clubs is another thing. Not just Adu, Altidore was another MLS hyped flop in Europe then.
Just out of curiousity, why do you think we can't sign Endrick? If his transfer becomes significantly inflated due to interest from other top European clubs, then I agree, we could be priced out of the deal.
Flo will go all out for Endrick imo because market lacks exciting CF talents. He won't put all the eggs in Haaland 2025 basket after seeing how Mbappe played us. Endrick deal will be closed long before that most probably. City have Haaland and PSG signed a young CF. Barca could be out biggest challengers for Endrick rather than oil clubs imo though they will have to sell another asset to make such a move. [emoji3] Doubt a Brazilian teenager will consider Chelsea when RM and Barca are after him.
Wouldn’t discount PSG going after him regardless who they signed. I don’t see Barca spending big on a youngster at this point, their strategy is buy players that can contribute immediately; they already had one of the youngest squads in La Liga.
My reason is due to the reports which claimed his family would not move him where Halaand went. If that is the case why even test fate? Until you secure him, make no youthful additions at striker. Besides a younger player isn't exactly what we need anyways. We need someone who is experienced and can get a goal without needing a lot of playtime to find rhythm.
Then we are far from the only one having this asset weakness issue, i don't know about guaranteed starts but the most important part/player of any big team does not generally rotate just for the sake of rotation especially in the heat of trying to win trophies, and that doesn't necessarily mean the striker either. Benz plays always because he makes the team tick and more often than not, win, not to " keep him happy", so did/does Lewa at Bayern as i'm sure he will at Farca, Salah at Liverpool, Debruyne at Man City managed by the great tinkerer, Messi and Mbappe at PSG, Ronaldo at Manure and on and on, it's not unheard of no matter the player's age , i will give you that yes Manure isn't properly constructed but most of the others are multiple title winning teams, we need a backup now just in case, that's common sense, but if we are fighting down to the wire to win then Benz will play as long as he is fit IMO
From his perspective, wouldn't make sense to join PSG who already signed Ekitike in his position who's highly rated in France. And they will also have Mbappe and Neymar on the team even if Messi moves on after 2024.
After receiving contracts in the last 48h, Edinson Cavani communicated to Boca Juniors that he wants to give priority to European clubs. He’s not accepting due to family reasons. 🚨🇺🇾 #transfersCavani and his family’s dream is to join La Liga and try new chapter in Spain. 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/N64jvJbYSV— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 7, 2022 Major curveball with Cavani