Endrik made his choice. The Brazilian forward has chosen to join Lyon on loan until the end of the season, without an option to buy. His goal is to play in the World Cup and then return to Real Madrid, first with Carlos Ancelotti and then with Xabi Alonso, to achieve the fame that has been denied him since his arrival.
At 19 years old, Endrick is taking a potentially career-defining step. In France, he will have the chance to prove that he has the necessary qualities to return to Real Madrid and argue with those who cannot understand why he has so little space in a team that relies so heavily on Mbappé in terms of scoring. However, the on-loan Real Madrid striker’s departure to return home is also a risk, as there is no precedent to support the Brazilian’s gamble.
Real Madrid forward Endrik is not happy, but Jude Bellingham completely understands why
The last centre-forwards to leave Madrid on loan to prove their potential to remain in the first team were local players such as Álvaro Rodríguez, Lataza and Borja Mayoral. In either case, there was no sign of him returning to share the front line with Benzema or Mbappé.
In the summer of 2019, Madrid sought out a great goalscorer from outside Spain after a disappointing season following the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo. The bet was on Luka Jovic, who was signed from Eintracht Frankfurt for 63 million euros. The Serbian player never looked like the striker they were looking for. Scoring two goals in one and a half seasons led to a loan spell at Eintracht, from which he returned and played another inconspicuous season before being sold to Fiorentina, leaving Madrid for Lyon with a buy-back clause exercised by the club in the summer of 2018, when Lopetegui arrived. He returned with the label of a goalscorer thanks to his 21 goals and ended up writing a story unlike anything seen before in Madrid, albeit a negative one. Since his return, he has spent five seasons with the club, making 70 appearances and scoring seven goals.
morata incident
Raul de Tomas is one of the wide-ranging goalscorers who trained in Real Madrid’s youth ranks, and his loan attempt to earn a return turned out to be a path of no return. That pattern appeared to be broken with the arrival of Morata. The Como striker moved to Juventus in 2014 as European champions. He continued to do so for two years, with a buy-back option that Real Madrid would eventually exercise. He returned and played a key role in Zidane’s best team of the 2016-17 season. He scored 20 goals and won La Liga and the Champions League. However, his decision was to leave Real Madrid, this time for good.
The list of “nine” who left the team and attempted to return includes Soldado and Portillo. The Valencian had a great season with Osasuna, scoring 13 goals, which opened the door for him to join the national team alongside Luis Aragonés. He returned to Madrid, but ended up moving to Getafe. Portillo was an explosive case of a youth player who scored a lot of goals, although not enough when competing with Ronaldo. It was an impossible task, but he ended up on loan to Fiorentina and Club Brugge, before finally leaving Real Madrid.
That long list includes great goal scorers like Morientes and Eto’o, but also forwards like Aganso, Kongo, Kanabal and Urzaiz. With the arrival of Ronaldo, “Morro” ended up being loaned to Monaco in bad shape. He has already had a successful career with Madrid, where he was twice European champion. After a year in the Principality, he returned to the white club, but his role was secondary and he ended up signing for Liverpool in January. A similar thing happened to Baptista, who was loaned to Arsenal and then transferred to Roma.
The Cameroonian is one of the major unexplained cases. He never had a chance at Real Madrid. Loan spells with Leganes, Espanyol and Mallorca ended with a move from the island to Barcelona, which ultimately proved to be a huge blow for Los Blancos.
One player who was loaned out only to return to Madrid for three seasons was Sebastian Lozada. He made his Primera debut on September 9, 1984, on the day of the professional strike, against Sporting, before being loaned to Clemente’s Espanyol, who lost in the 1987 UEFA Cup final against Leverkusen. After a great season, he returned to Madrid, but was always treated as a third option as the front line was dominated by Butragueño and Hugo Sanchez.
grosso and atlético
He may be a big exception. Grosso was loaned to Atlético Madrid for several months, saving the Rojiblancos. Grosso means madridismo. He made history at Real Madrid, but he started to make his mark in the Atlético squad heading to the Segunda División, and as they were unable to sign players due to a lack of funds, Madrid sought out a young player who had stood out in Plus Ultra, Real Madrid’s reserve team at the time.
Although initially unconvinced, Madrid accepted the loan of Grosso, who had already scored 13 goals in 15 games as a substitute player. The Madrid player scored on his debut and performed well in both red and white, finishing in seventh place. He immediately returned to the Santiago Bernabéu. In the same season, 1963-64, he played in the Copa del Rey with Madrid, but they lost 1-1 and 2-1 to Atlético in the quarter-finals, with Grosso scoring the white goal at the Metropolitano. He played for Madrid until 1976, retiring with 11 titles: one European Cup, seven LaLiga titles and three Copa del Rey. He was number 9 in the Yay Madrid team.
