Endrick has made his choice. The Brazilian forward has opted to join Lyon on loan until the end of the season, with no option to buy. His goal is to play at the World Cup and then return to Real Madrid to have the glory that has been denied him since his arrival, first with Carlos Ancelotti and then with Xabi Alonso.
19 years old, Endrick is taking a step that could mark his career. In France, he will have the opportunity to prove that he has what it takes to return to Real Madrid and justify those who do not understand why he has been given so little space in a team that depends so much on goal scoring Mbappe. But there is also risk, with the Real Madrid striker’s departure on loan to return home unprecedented to support the Brazilian’s gamble.
The latest centre-backs to leave Madrid on loan in an attempt to prove they can stay in the first team have been local: Alvaro Rodriguez, Latasa and Borja Mayoral. In none of these cases was there the slightest hint of a return to share the front line with Benzema or Mbappe.
In the summer of 2019, Madrid looked for a great goalscorer outside of Spain after the collapse following the departure of Iceland. Cristiano Ronaldo. The bet was Luka Jovicsigned from Eintracht Frankfurt for 63 million euros. The Serbian never looked like the striker he was looking for. Two goals in a season and a half led to a loan spell at Eintracht, from where he returned to play another indifferent campaign before being sold to FiorentinaMariano left Madrid for Lyon on a transfer, with a buy-back clause used by the club in the summer of 2018, when Lopetegui arrived He returned with the marks of a goalscorer thanks to his 21 goals and writing a history never seen before at Madrid, albeit a negative one. Since his return, he spent five seasons with the club, playing 70 games and scoring seven goals.
The Morata case
Raul de Tomas is one of the many goalscorers trained in Real Madrid’s youth academy who went out on loan to earn a return and did so only to go on a path of no return. That pattern seemed to be broken Morata. The striker from Como went to Juventus in 2014 as a European champion. He did so for two years, with a buy-back option that Real Madrid would eventually exercise. He returned and was instrumental in Zidane’s best team in 2016-17. He scored 20 goals to win La Liga and the Champions League. But his decision was to leave Real Madrid, this time for good.
On the list of ‘nine’ who left and tried to return are Soldado and Portillo. The Valencian had a great season at Osasuna: 13 goals that opened the door to the national team with Luis Aragones. He returned to Madrid, but only to be transferred to Getafe. Portillo’s case was an explosion of a youth player with plenty of goals, although it was not enough when competing Ronaldo. It was an impossible task that ended up with loans to Fiorentina and Club Brugge before he finally parted ways with Real Madrid.
That long list includes forwards like Aganzo, Congo or Canabal, Urzaiz as well as great scorers such as Morientes and Eto’o. “Moro” was loaned to Monaco in a bad way with the arrival of Ronaldo. He had already made his career at Madrid, where he became European champion twice. After a year in the Principality, he returned to the Whites, but his role was so secondary that in January he ended up signing for Liverpool. Something similar happened with Baptistawho was loaned to Arsenal and then transferred to Roma.
Cameroon is one of the great unresolved issues. He never really had a chance Real Madrid. Credit spell at Leganes, Espanyol and Mallorca ended up with a transfer from the island to Barcelona that would ultimately hurt Los Blancos.
One player who was loaned out only to return and spend three seasons at Madrid was Sebastian Losada. After making his Primera debut on 9 September 1984, against Sporting on the day of the professional strike, in 1987 he went on loan to Clemente’s Espanyol, the team that lost the UEFA Cup final against Leverkusen. He returned to Madrid after a great season, but always as third choice, because the forward line was dominant Butragueno and Hugo Sanchez.
Grosso and Atletico
He might be the big exception. Grosso was on loan for several months at Atletico Madrid, which served to save the rojiblancos. To say Grosso is to say Madridismo. He made history at Real Madrid, but went on to excel at an Atletico team that was on the way Segunda Division and, unable to sign players due to lack of money, Madrid asked for a young player who stood out from Plus Ultra, then Real Madrid’s reserve team.
Although they were not convinced at first, Madrid agreed to the loan Grossowho had already scored 13 goals in 15 games with the reserve team. The Madrid man scored on his debut and it started a good run for the red and whites which saw them salvage a seventh-placed finish. His return to the Santiago Bernabeu was immediate. So much so that in the same season, 1963-64, he played in the Copa del Rey with Madrid, who were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Atletico: 1-1 and 2-1, with the white goal on Metropolitano Grosso scored. He played for Madrid until 1976 and retired with eleven trophies: one European Cup, seven LaLiga titles and three Copa del Reys. He was No.9 in the Yeye Madrid team.