Brazilian is set to join Lyon on loan after playing only 11 minutes so far this season
Endrick should consider leaving Real Madrid in January if it guarantees regular football, club’s former striker Mariano Diaz has said.
The Brazilian youngster joined Madrid from Palmeiras in 2022 in a deal worth up to €60m, and his first season under Carlo Ancelotti showed signs of promise despite limited starts. But a hamstring injury in the summer interrupted his progress and he has since struggled to feature under Xabi Alonso.
Under the Spaniard he has played just 11 minutes for Madrid this season.
“If Endrick ends up leaving, or a player who isn’t getting much playing time has to go abroad to play, I would tell him to enjoy it a lot, to appreciate that if he’s going to be a starter on the team, that’s the best thing that can happen to him,” said Diaz.
“You have to try to prove yourself when they give you that confidence, because it’s not the same when you play a few minutes every three games. You can’t prove your worth in a few minutes. But if they trust you and you’re a starter, that’s when you can prove a lot of things. In this case, if [Endrick] leaves, he could also return to Madrid.
“In football we all want to be protagonists, to give our all. When that situation arises [of not playing as much], maybe there are some players who perform well thanks to the motivation and others who are perhaps more bothered by it.
“Real Madrid is the biggest club in the world, but not everyone can be there. It’s true that there is life beyond that.”
Mariano himself struggled for minutes while at Madrid. He made 14 appearances in the 2016-17 season and scored five goals, but opportunities were scarce in a squad that had Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale in the front line. He left for Lyon at the end of that season and only returned in 2018, after Ronaldo had left Madrid.
“As it was Madrid, I wasn’t going to say no,” said Diaz. “But they told me that this time it would be different, and that was one of the reasons I wanted to return.”
