Pele to Endrick : Five Teen Talents that lit up Brazil Football

Football loves a wonderkid on the block and the hype end s up being 10 times more if  they happen to be from the Samba nation, Brazil and this is for a very good reason. The nation which has churned out child football prodigies like R9 Ronaldo, Coutinho, Pato, Vinicius Jr, Zico Djalma Santos.  

If you want to dive deeper into the past, the list goes on and on. The main point here is that they have been a hotbed for the next big thing in football for decades for now. So, here we would look at 5 such talents who took the world by storm.

Endrick

The latest talk of the town, every picture of his is iconic. His debut for Brazil was iconic, being with Palmeiras U-20 and being the best player at 15 and only going from strength to strength. His relentless direct approach and the expectations that his performances have generated prior to his move to Los Blancos was agreed upon almost 2 years ago is clearly a testament to the fact that barring a string of career ending injuries. He and Yamal are going to be the Messi vs Ronaldo, Mbappe vs Haaland of this generation and Endrick is on the track to fulfil his role as a megastar which he has been touted since he was only 13.

Pele

Even though the statistical aspect of Pele is still shrouded in mystery,  a world cup at 18 back in the 50s is more than enough to mark you out as a generational wonderkid. If one goes by Wikipedia, in his first full season as a 17 year old, he ended up scoring 41 goals in just 38 games while subsequently winning the World Cup in 1958 as an 18 year old. And the rest is history even though most of us were not around to witness his greatness first hand ore even via T.V, he would have surely been a hundred million pound player. If the 17 year old version of Pele existed today, it almost does now in the form of Endrick and it almost did in the form of a player about a 15 years ago now who is our next entry.

Neymar

Try outs with Real Madrid at 14, 1st professional contract at 17, 42 goals in 60 games for Santos the next season and Brazil debut at 18. This guy had it all and more or less has lived up to the hype achieving massive success at Santos, Barcelona and PSG. But in recent times, injuries and his carefree approach to the game which made him the rockstar in his early years has caught up with him. He is currently out of action with a long term injury and has only managed to play 5 matches for his current side to date.

Kerlon

One of the earliest football skill videos that go viral are of a 17 year old Brazil wonderkid who scored 8 goals in 7 matches in the 2005 South American U-17  championship. But he was not famous for that instead, he was famous for his outrageous dribbling technique which saw him snapped up by inter by the time he turned 20. 

He although had a powerful shot on him and excellent 1v1 ability. All his legacy remains is that of a 17 year old who dribbled past his opponents using his head, literally dribbling the ball on his head like a seal. And that is partially the reason the current generation might not have even heard of him courtesy of constant injuries that never let him blossom into the finished article. There was so much promise and it was as beautiful as the samba style Jogo Bonito trick based game style that he used put on show.

Jean Chera

Santos, Genoa, Flamengo, Cruzeiro - Some people would be happy to turn of out for these big name clubs throughout their whole career but Jean managed to feature for all of them even before he turned 18. His skill video compilation as a kid which were uploaded were a viral hit many dubbing him to reach to the very top but combination of various off field issues ensured that that promise remained alas only a promise. How big of a deal he was back in the day even though his senior career is virtually non existent and had already retired once at only 21. 

Cover Credits - Goal.com