Endrick Felipe’s Role In Star-Studded Real Madrid

Endrick Felipe was there at the right place and at the right time. As Brazil secured a famous international friendly win with a weakened squad over England, their star boy Endrick Felipe got the winning goal after pouncing on a loose ball inside the box. It was a great win for the Selecao, who started the game with five debutants: João Gomes, Bento, Wendell, Fabrício Bruno, and Lucas Beraldo.

Endrick, who is set to join Real Madrid in July, has already been touted as the next superstar to emerge from the land of Samba, and was already on the cover of the famous Spanish magazine Marca at the young age of 15. The Brazilian was in the middle of an intense transfer war that ended with Los Blancos securing his services.

He is still only 17, but his performance reminds us of a player who has matured far beyond his years. However, there is one problem: a certain Kylian Mbappe is also about to join Real Madrid at the same time as Endrick. There is already a dilemma over which of Mbappe and Vinicius Jr. will play the coveted left-wing spot, and adding Endrick to the fold makes the situation more complicated.

So, what will Endrick Felipe’s role be at Real Madrid?

Endrick Felipe at Palmeiras

Before talking about his role at Real Madrid, we must examine how Endrick performed in the 2023 Brazilian league season. The youngster played a total of 1558 minutes in the 2023 Brazilian league season and was one of the best players in the squad as Palmeiras won back-to-back titles. However, looking at the stats, one runs into a problem: Endrick doesn’t feature in the top five players on almost every attacking metric.

So, was he not that good? Well, this question is immediately answered as soon as we look at the Palmeiras team stats. Endrick ranks as the top scorer for the team with 11 goals to his name, even though his Expected Goals (xG) rating was only 8.14. Endrick was also the second-best player on the team on Expected Threat(xT) from carries and third on Expected Offensive Value Added (xOVA).

So, why does Endrick not appear on the same list at the league level after topping so many metrics at the club? It is because Palmeiras function as a team that is not solely dependent on any one player. In fact, they were the top scorers and conceded the second-least goal in the league.

Endrick’s heatmap from the 2023 season gives us a clear indication of how he functions. The heatmap showed that the youngster loved to operate in the inside right channel from where he…