Endrick on Real Madrid Reality and Lyon Experience

The leap from Brazilian wonderkid to Real Madrid forward is supposed to be the fantasy. For Endrick, it started as a shock to the system.

“The first year is always tough,” the teenage striker admitted in an interview with Men in Blazers on YouTube. You can see why. He walked into a dressing room loaded with Ballon d’Or winners, Champions League icons and superstars who already carry the weight of the club on their shoulders.

“You arrive at a club with players like [Luka] Modric, Vinicius, Rodrygo… It’s very difficult to play with all of them, but you also learn a lot,” he said.

Minutes were scarce. Expectations weren’t. That combination crushes plenty of young talents. Endrick chose to treat it as an education. Training sessions with Madrid’s elite became his classroom.

“I’ve been able to put everything I’ve learned into practice at Lyon, and when I return I’ll be able to demonstrate it there,” he explained, drawing a clear line between the struggle in Spain and the growth in France.

Bellingham on the phone, Trent in his corner

What kept him steady wasn’t just his own resolve. It was the voices in his ear when the doubts crept in.

“Bellingham calls me every day,” Endrick revealed. Not once a week. Every day. “When I was feeling down, he’d pick me up and we’d talk. He helped me a lot. Trent too. They’re very approachable players.”

For a teenager trying to find his feet in Europe, that kind of support matters as much as any tactical briefing. The names he drops are telling: Jude Bellingham, already one of Madrid’s emotional leaders, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, a Premier League star who has lived the pressure cooker since his own teenage years.

Endrick tries to squeeze every lesson out of them, even if one detail still escapes him. “I try to learn from them, including English, but it’s impossible to understand them,” he joked, a reminder that behind the hype there is still a kid wrestling with accents and new cultures.

Lyon move as a turning point

The key decision came when he accepted a temporary step away from the Santiago Bernabeu. On paper, leaving Real Madrid so soon after arriving looks like a retreat. Endrick sees it as the opposite.

“It wasn’t difficult to go to Lyon,” he insisted. “In the end, God told me I had to go, and I went. I wasn’t afraid; it’s been one of the best decisions of my life.”

He needed what every young forward craves: the ball, the pitch, the rhythm of real games. “I needed to play. I’ve been able to score goals, provide assists, and play a lot of minutes.”

Lyon gave him that. The French club offered what Madrid, for now, could not: a starting place, responsibility, and room to make mistakes without the Bernabeu glare. The move has turned into a proving ground, not a hiding place.

World Cup on the horizon, Brazil in his heart

All of this – the grind at Madrid, the revival at Lyon, the daily calls from superstars – feeds into a bigger dream. The World Cup.

“Playing in a World Cup is the greatest thing. Being able to represent my country is a dream come true,” he said, the weight of Brazil’s history never far from his mind. “The World Cup is very important to people, and it's been a long time since we won it.”

He knows the lineage he is stepping into. And he knows who still carries the torch.

“Neymar has Brazilian DNA. He's one of the best in our history,” Endrick said, placing the current idol firmly among the greats he grew up watching.

His ambitions are not limited to the national team. Back in Madrid, he has already built a relationship with the man tasked with shaping the next era.

“I get along very well with Ancelotti. He's a great coach and understands you very well as a person. I know they have a lot of respect for me.”

Respect at Real Madrid, trust at Lyon, and a World Cup dream with Brazil. For a teenager who started by admitting how tough that first year in Europe really was, the path now looks clear enough: use France as a launchpad, then walk back into the Bernabeu not as a promise, but as a player ready to deliver.