Not Mbappé or Vini: Real Madrid’s young prodigy is turning heads in Europe

Maybe he doesn’t know how to do it, but he does it effortlessly: everything he touches turns to gold.

Meet Real Madrid’s very own Midas – or at least an aspiring one. His name is Endrick, but in the dressing room he is affectionately known as Bobby. This nickname comes from a recent interview where he claimed his childhood idols were Cristiano Ronaldo and Bobby Charlton, despite Charlton having retired 31 years before Endrick was born. Something is not quite right. And the jokes have been relentless ever since – courtesy of his teammates. However, the goals are all his. They seem to fall from his pockets. It’s a gift.

With his tension against Celta, he now boasts an average of a goal every 72 minutes. But that’s not all. It is the third best score in Europe.

Endrick, the Vanishing Star

Endrick seems to disappear from view. Since the Montilivi game, manager Carlo Ancelotti has only given him 12 minutes on the pitch, not counting the Deportivo Minera game. In between there have been two finals and shows like the Bergamo friendly. Everyone has watched him from the sidelines, watched time go by, life go on and listened to discouraging arguments.

“There’s a lot of talk about Endrick saying he’s played a little, that I’m not giving him minutes… blah blah blah, but you have to consider he is very young, needs to adapt, improve, learn and playing him when the team is not performing well can be counter productive. Instead of helping him, it could hurt him. I have to think about all these things,” Carlo Ancelotti stated in December.

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Touched by a wand

A month later, Endrick squashed that theory. Against Celta, despite the team leading 2-0, he faced one of those uncertain moments. With the team hurt and teetering on the edge, the tension was palpable. Instead of backing down, he stepped up. He delivered a stunning left-footed strike to equalize 3-2, assisted perfectly by Moriba and followed up with a backheel in overtime to seal the 5-2 win. Fast and decisive. “In none of these moments did I look at the goal,” he said in the mixed zone. And that’s the summary: a player with an angelic touch. Maybe he doesn’t even know how to do it, or maybe he does; but he does. The ball finds the net.

Invisible, yet effective

He has now scored four times this season. With his latest brace, he has taken a significant leap in his Valdebebas career and has become the team’s sixth top scorer, follows the likes of The Fantastic Four and Under the Wings of the Falcon. A whole new dimension. But the merit is not so much that he is there, but that he is there with so little playing time. Endrick has only accumulated 291 minutes this season, 90 of them were against Deportivo Minera and 41 against Celta. Apart from the Copa, he has only played 160 minutes this season over 32 games. In LaLiga, he does not even reach a full game: 82 minutes. And in the Champions League even less: 78 minutes. Endrick is a residual figure in Real Madrid. That is the reality. From the first team, only Vallejo has played less (10 minutes). But that is precisely his strength.

Bronze in Europe

With this prospect, he adds a remarkable statistic. As I’ve said, his average is spectacular: scoring every 72 minutes. To put it into perspective, Mbappé scores every 147 minutes and Vinicius every 140 minutes. It’s amazing. A reflection of a football player who barely plays; but when he does and touches the ball, things happen. An aura of talent. Endrick has the third best scoring average in all of Europe, surpassed only by Patrik Schick (67 minutes, Bayer Leverkusen) and Keke Topp (62 minutes, Werder Bremen). This study, conducted by Opta, looked at players who have scored at least four goals.

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Of tears…

Endrick, who also shed blood against Valladolid (his official debut) and Stuttgart (his Champions League debut), is a boy with an aura. The one who cried with emotion during his presentation. “As a child I dreamed of playing for Real Madrid… and I will do it,” he said in a shaky voice, in front of 45,000 people on his sixth day of legal adulthood. This is how his story began. And this is how it is developing now.

Months of intense psychological work. Don’t understand why he barely played but didn’t give up. “Rüdiger tells me to keep working hard even if I’m not playing,” he admitted after the game. “Ancelotti knows he doesn’t have to look for the best for Endrick, but for the team,” he added.

… to sweat

His relationship with the coach is cool. But professionally. “I don’t talk to the manager that much, but on the first day he already told me that the most important thing here is to work… and he knows that I do it every day. I am grateful because he has been a great person to me,” he concluded. And he left the Bernabéu with a serious face, as is his nature. But inside, he embodies the belief that, as Hannibal from the A-Team would say, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

The third striker with the best scoring average in Europe has opened the door. The protagonist of a case worth studying. The hero of the Copa. The one who scores every 72 minutes, after all. He may not know how to do it, but he turns everything he touches into gold. Endrick scores goals on an hourly basis. We present Real Madrid’s very own Midas. Bobby.