Welcome to The Daily Merengue — a place where you can feel free to discuss all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name!
Shoutout to the Mods who do a fantastic job, Valyrian Steel, Ezek XI, KungFuZizou, NeRObutBlanco, Felipejack, and Juninho.
Word From Author:
OutofEyeDiaz: So Juni — why aren’t you active anymore?
Juninho: Sometimes it’s because I lack time. Sometimes it’s because I lack patience. Sometimes because my mind is preoccupied with battles that I dare not mention to MM.
But most often it’s because of a simple quote from Industry…a simple quote that I think many have seem to have forgotten…a simple principle of discussion — “any success I may have doesn’t have to come at a cost to you.”
A Collection of Memos
Writer’s Prelude. This week will be a series of corporate memos.
To: MM
“You don’t get what you deserve in this business, you get what you can take.” – Eric Tao
Endrick. This quote rings no truer than at a place like Real Madrid. This quote is the basis of the frantic circus that is at times our coaching decisions. It reflects how quickly fans seem to turn on players and each other. It’s the basis of almost every MM comment or sarcastic font. And equally important this quote is the embodiment of how the team approaches player development. Endrick (a promising Brazilian talented) didn’t get the minutes or time that he deserved…he got what he could take. He got everything he could violently take through slight glimpses of brilliance, until even we could read on his face that he couldn’t take anymore. And now he’s at Lyon. A place where Endrick will likely get what he deserves — a role / minutes / a manager’s faith.
Now, since Endrick has pulled off a tremendous hat trick against Ligue 1’s worst team, you’ll all likely read soliloquies in the upcoming days about how Real Madrid is wasting a phenomenal talent. You’ll see replies about how Xabi has blood on his hands for not utilizing Endrick (even though Carlo Ancelotti equally didn’t use Endrick). You’ll see nuanced fan lineups where he’s slotted at RW or at CF without one of the VMR. You’ll probably even see a Marca or AS article stating Endrick’s return next year will be a “new signing”. And I’m here to tell you to not only temper your expectations but to temper your blame.
Expectations. I believe in Endrick and quite frankly I hope that all of you do to. I don’t believe that I will really need to list off why Endrick is just a must-watch talent and is in a completely different realm than Franco or even some of our past Brazilian youths like Vini / Rodry but there’s something unequivocally special about him. And with all that said — Madrid fans please temper your expectations for him. (I wish I could write this same DT about Nico Paz but alas I lack the time). Maybe because at this club you really don’t get what you deserve, but Real Madrid fans / MM, we have this keen longing to build up players just to tear them down just as quickly. At one point our midfield trio of Jude / Fede / Tchou / Cama was “the greed that they wrote about in the Bible,” and now these players can “barely string together basic passes.” There’s an incredibly countless list of Real Madrid former great youth players turned has-beens and although Endrick looks like the real deal there’s an equally great chance that some unfortunate event changes his career trajectory. Idk growth isn’t always linear. I think we need to remind ourselves of that. And as we approach the summer, I hope the board can keep that in mind.
The Blame Game. Next the Endrick blame game because this is probably truly where MM is going to have an uproar. Endrick was never going to play significant minutes at Real Madrid. Did he deserve to? Probably. But he truly was never going to play any important minutes at Real Madrid and you need to look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that…because it’s a fact. Endrick is an inspirational raw talent but
1) he isn’t better than Vini, Mbappe, Rodrygo or even Brahim as a comprehensive player. We can debate whether he should have taken minutes from Franco but there’s embedded a debate on whether Franco should even be getting the minutes that he’s received. A topic for another day but from the eye test — Franco is currently a hustle merchant in its finest form (but he ofc is a child so let’s wait until later to cast final judgement).
2) Real Madrid’s board / fans / identity as an institution would have never allowed Endrick to play important minutes without significant injury. Now this is a much louder or potentially sensationalized topic but I hope for most of you many of the themes can at times ring true. At Real Madrid, a coach can often be sacked despite starting a season with 14 out of 15 wins and can face months of speculation + rumors saying that one additional loss and he may lose his job. At Real Madrid, fans are quicker than many to tell you that a young talent does not reach some elusive (and quite frankly outdated) “Real Madrid standard” of quality / play. At Real Madrid, star players are able to publicly undress a manager for a substitution without any consequences. So I’ll — how does a promising talent develop under these conditions? How does a manager trust a raw talent when he’s fighting for his job? How does a manager trust a raw talent when even subbing in a 2x CL winner for the final 20 mins of El Clasico becomes a global debate? How is a raw talent — a talent who certainly will make mistakes — able to play freely on the pitch under these conditions?
(Translation: I get the impression that Carletto and Xabi weren’t putting Endrick in to avoid debates about meritocracy that would make the overly sensitive uncomfortable)
Perhaps, I’m wrong. But I’m quite confident that said talent won’t survive. Endrick couldn’t thrive at Real Madrid because Real Madrid as an institution was neither built nor did it want to develop a young talent. Endrick won’t thrive at Real Madrid unless he’s aligned with a manager who can not only believe in his raw talent but is given the TIME to develop it. Endrick won’t thrive at a Real Madrid which deems players untouchable. Endrick and to be frank no young talent will thrive until the illusion of a meritocracy becomes a reality.
But anyway it is what it is. At Real Madrid, you don’t get what you deserve. You get what you can take.
Cheers,
J
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“My pain was useful to you“
