Endrick, Vitor Roque and the Allure of an Early European Call-Up

July 2024. Endrick arrives at the Santiago Bernabéu in one of the most anticipated South America-to-Europe transfers since Neymar joined Barcelona. After a tug of war between Europe’s biggest clubs, he chooses Real Madrid and signs a six-year contract.

October 2025. Two months into the new season, he has featured for a total of zero minutes, frozen out of the squad and left to stagnate on the bench. When Europe comes calling so early in your career, is it sometimes better not to pick up the phone?

For decades, Europe has been the promised land for South America’s brightest young soccer players. The allure of playing in the UEFA Champions League , the financial pull of these clubs, and the dream of following in the footsteps of Messi, Neymar, and Ronaldinho has drawn countless teenagers across the Atlantic. But leaving home at 18 is always brutal.

A CIES report in 2023 found that 60% of young players who migrate to Europe report mental health struggles. Homesickness, language barriers, and isolation hit hard. Suddenly, they are in countries where they don’t speak the language, the food is unfamiliar, the weather is colder, and the support systems they relied on no longer exist.

The soccer itself is a shock. South American soccer is expressive, fluid, slower in tempo, and allows more room for flair. European soccer, especially in Spain, Italy, and England, is more structured, physically demanding, and tactically unforgiving. Players who dominated with improvisation back home suddenly find themselves expected to press, track back, and adapt to rigid systems.

And back at home, they were already stars for their clubs. In Europe, breaking into the first team of a Champions League club is always difficult. If opportunities never arrive, they fall into a never-ending cycle of loan spells labeled as “development” but often lacking any clear plan.

If you are already being called “the next Pelé” at 17, you are carrying one of the heaviest burdens possible in world soccer. After scoring 21 goals for Palmeiras and establishing a fierce rivalry in Brazilian Serie A with fellow wonderkid Vitor Roque (who we will also discuss below), Endrick arrived at the Bernabéu with an unprecedented level of hype for a teenager.

Back in Brazil, he was a poacher, a lethal finisher ready to punish any defensive lapse. But in 25 appearances over a season and a half in Spain, he has only scored seven goals — five of them in the Copa del Rey. He has only featured for 352 minutes in La Liga in that time, that’s less than 4 full games. Since the Club World Cup at the end of last season, he has fallen further down the pecking order, with Castilla striker Gonzalo García now getting more minutes than him. Rumors of a loan move swirl, but Endrick remains determined to fight for his place.

Vitor Roque and Endrick were rivals in the Brazilian Serie A during the 2023–24 season, battling for the golden boot. Roque was in such hot form that Barcelona accelerated his signing, bringing him in January 2024 instead of waiting until summer.

At first, he impressed, scoring twice and establishing himself as a super-sub. But Xavi reportedly never wanted a striker that winter, preferring a midfielder. Roque’s struggles with link-up play and adaptation to the dressing room dynamics meant he was soon frozen out, without any proper explanation.

Loaned at the end of the season to Real Betis, he showed flashes of potential, but Betis terminated his loan in February 2025. He returned to Brazil, signing for Palmeiras, the same club where his rival Endrick made his mark, and has been playing really well over there.

Reinier was Flamengo’s golden boy, a midfielder compared to the legendary Kaká. Real Madrid paid $32 million in January 2020, but he never played a single first-team minute for Los Blancos in five years.

Instead, he fell into the loan cycle that we talked about above:

With fewer than 10 goals across four European loans, Reinier returned to Brazil at the start of the 2025 season having made no impact in any of the teams he played for.

Few Brazilian strikers have dominated at home the way Gabriel “Gabigol” Barbosa did before joining Inter Milan in 2016 from Santos. But in Italy he struggled with discipline, fitness, and tactical demands. A short loan to Portuguese side Benfica was equally disastrous. Within two years, the forward once seen as Neymar’s heir had returned to Santos on loan, never to leave Brazil again. After signing for Flamengo in 2019, he went on to establish himself as a cult hero, scoring twice in injury time in the 2019 Copa Libertadores Final against River Plate to lead his team to their 2nd ever Libertadores title, and their first in 38 years.

Not every South American prospect fails in Europe. Some thrive spectacularly. Neymar Jr. and Vinícius Jr. became Ballon d’Or finalists. Rodrygo adapted to become a versatile frontman at Real Madrid capable of playing anywhere. João Pedro , after struggling at Watford, revived his career at Brighton and now plays for Chelsea. Casemiro ’s path to success wasn’t immediate. After joining Madrid young, he spent time with Castilla and later went on loan to Porto, where he toughened up and matured tactically and returned to become a 5x Champions League winner.

The failures that came for the wonderkids, often came too soon, or came at clubs unwilling to nurture them. The successes were given room to grow, trusted despite their flaws, and surrounded by a support system.

South America’s stars deserve a stage, not a trap. Europe will always call, and to be world-class still means making it there. But until European clubs learn that talent requires patience as much as pressure, the steady flow of South American wonderkids will continue to produce stories of failure rather than fulfilled.