BREAKING: DEAL DONE! LYON PAY €1M TO SECURE REAL MADRID WONDERKID UNTIL JUNE
Real Madrid’s €60m gem Endrick has joined Lyon on a 6-month loan. No buy option included as he seeks World Cup form.
Lyon got Endrick on loan for six months, until June 2026. They're paying Real Madrid €1 million, and they'll cover about half of his salary.
There's no option or obligation to buy him, so Madrid still controls their €60 million investment from summer 2024. He's still under contract with them until 2030.
The deal includes a guaranteed playing time clause. Paulo Fonseca, the coach, sees him as the future main striker after Lacazette and Mikautadze left this summer.
This move fits well with Lyon's aim to finish in the top five in Ligue 1. They've won eight out of 16 games and are ten points behind Lens. Endrick should give their attack a boost after the winter break.
Why he left Madrid
Endrick didn't get much playing time at Madrid under Xabi Alonso. He only played in one La Liga game and came on as a substitute in the Champions League because he was recovering from a hamstring injury.
Alonso said to be patient because he had tough competition from Mbappé, Vinicius Junior, and Rodrygo. Even though he was doing well in training, he didn't get many chances.
He wanted to play regularly to get back into Carlo Ancelotti’s plans for the national team.
Arsenal and Chelsea were interested, but he picked Lyon because they're in the Europa League and have Brazilian players there already, like Emerson and Abner. This should make it easier for him to adjust.
What's next?
Endrick hopes to play his first Ligue 1 game against Monaco in January. He's expected to fit into Fonseca’s attack after the winter break, using his scoring skills he learned in Brazil. If he does well, he could return to Madrid's first team or attract interest from other clubs. Scouts like his skills in the air, ability to hold up the ball, and finishing ability. He is just 19.
Madrid thinks this loan will help him grow, despite the early setback. Lyon hopes that wanting to play in the World Cup will motivate him to make an impact right away. People all over Europe think this short loan could change his career for both club and country.
ACT NOW: XABI ALONSO DEMANDS THREE HUGE SIGNINGS BEFORE JANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW SLAMS SHUT
Xabi Alonso targets Ibrahima Konate and Florian Wirtz for Real Madrid. Plus, the truth behind the Bruno Fernandes transfer links.
Real Madrid's coach, Xabi Alonso, isn't dropping his dream of getting Ibrahima Konate and Florian Wirtz from Liverpool over to the Bernabeu. Apparently, Real Madrid is still thinking about whether or not to go for Bruno Fernandes, who plays midfield for Man U.
With the January window coming up, the Spanish papers are full of rumours about Real Madrid trying to snatch players from Liverpool and Man U.
Alonso, who used to play midfield for Liverpool, has gotten some breathing room after winning his last few games as Madrid's coach. Now, he's supposedly trying to get Real Madrid's president, Florentino Perez, to sign three players in 2026, with a couple coming from Liverpool.
According to Defensa Central, Alonso wants Madrid to sign Ibrahima Konate and Florian Wirtz from Liverpool, plus Angelo Stiller from VfB Stuttgart, all in the January window.
Even though Alonso knows these deals are pretty much impossible and no one's arriving, he still has Konate, Wirtz, and Stiller on his wish list. But let's be real, this news outlet tends to make stuff up.
Madrid has already decided not to go after Konate, whose contract with Liverpool ends this season.
But sources say that Liverpool thinks some agents are trying to talk Madrid into changing their mind about Konate.
Alonso coached Wirtz back when he was at Bayer Leverkusen and wanted him for Madrid when he took over as coach last season. But Liverpool ended up coughing up £116 million to get the Bundesliga club to sell the German midfielder.
Real Madrid is thinking about a Bruno Fernandes deal:
Alonso wants a new midfielder, and Fichajes says that Bruno Fernandes from Man U is someone Madrid likes a lot.
The English papers said Madrid might make a move for Fernandes in the summer of 2025, and now the Spanish media is saying Real Madrid is interested in the Portuguese star.
Just keep in mind that Fichajes isn't always right, so take anything they say with a grain of salt.
The report says Madrid could pay Fernandes' release clause of €60 million, which is in his Man U contract.
But the big question is Fernandes' age. He's 31 now, and Madrid usually doesn't spend big on players that old.
The debate is whether to go for someone who can perform right away or think about the future.
Bruno Fernandes would be great from the start, but he doesn't really fit the usual transfer plan.
Sources say that Man Utd isn't planning to sell Fernandes in the January window.
Fernandes, who's hurt right now, gave a pretty explosive interview in November where he called out the Man U directors for being willing to sell him in the summer of 2025.
The Nico Paz transfer is called the deal of the century:
Madrid already has a plan to bring Nico Paz back to the Bernabeu next summer.
Paz is doing great at Como right now, after joining them from Madrid in the summer of 2024.
We've heard that Madrid plans to use the €9 million buy-back clause in Paz's contract with Como next summer.
Our transfer guy, Graeme Bailey, has reported that Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Man City have all tried to get Paz to change his mind. But the Argentina international midfielder is set on going back to Madrid at the end of the season.
Defensa Central is all about Madrid's decision on Paz, calling it the deal of the century.
THE NEGREIRA CASE ESCALATES AS REAL MADRID CHASE INTERNAL BARCELONA TAX MEETING NOTES
Real Madrid uses a 2009 quote from Joan Laporta to suggest the president is lying about the Negreira refereeing reports.
Okay, so it seems Real Madrid is really going hard after Barcelona in the Negreira case. They want a bunch of Barcelona's money info from 2010 to 2018.
There's no way Real Madrid and Barcelona will be friends anytime soon. They're fighting each other because of those payments Barcelona made to José María Enríquez Negreira, who was once the ref committee's vice-president.
After Real Madrid's lawyer questioned Joan Laporta in court recently, Real Madrid now wants to see all sorts of papers. They think these documents will show what the payments were actually for and who approved them at Barcelona.
Xabier Estrada says Real Madrid is asking for:
Any internal checks Barcelona did between 2010 and 2018 that looked at those payments to Dasnil 95, S.L., and other companies. They want to know who made those reports and who at the club saw them.
Barcelona's yearly money reports from that time, plus audits done by other companies.
Notes from any meetings where the club's Tax Governance Committee looked at those payments to check if they were okay with taxes.
They also want Camps Legal Advisors, S.L.P., to give up any letters or claims they sent to Barcelona on behalf of Dasnil 95, S.L., or José María Enríquez Negreira.
Also, they want to hear from Carlos Naval Biosca.
Real Madrid also wants the court to hear something Laporta said back in 2009:
Real Madrid signing a former ref? I’m sure they know what they’re doing, but we respect the refereeing institution and structure; they do their job well, we won’t be making any signing like that, and we don’t know that market anyway.”
Real Madrid thinks this proves Laporta is lying when he says the payments to Negreira were just for good reports on referees.
Basically, Real Madrid is digging hard to get all the info about Barcelona's cash in this Negreira thing and plans to keep arguing about it in court.