‘Pele and Ronaldo’ - Arsenal could rival Real Madrid and Barcelona for Brazilian teen

Signing promising young players and developing them into first team stars has been a hallmark of Arsenal’s recruitment process for decades and the Gunners are now beeling liked with one of the most promising teenagers in world football.

Mikel Arteta’s side, who face PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Europa League tonight and Southampton in their next Premier League fixture on Sunday, could be in for a busy January transfer window as the Spaniard and the club’s recruitment staff look to strengthen for the second half of the campaign. However, it might not just be about bringing in first team ready players as they look to win the race for a potential star of the future. To do that, they may well have to fend off competition from the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid.

According to a report from Four Four Two, the Gunners are interested in signing 16-year-old striker Endrick from Brasileiro Série A side Palmeiras. The teenage forward has been compared to South American legends like Pele and Ronaldo and is said to be the most exciting player to come out of the continent since Neymar. Unfortunately, Endrick (full name Endrick Felipe Moreira de Sousa) would not be able to complete any move until his 18th birthday in July 2024 but that doesn’t stop clubs sounding him out well in advance.

Although players from South America do traditionally tend to favour moves to the Spanish giants, one former Arsenal striker believes the North London side could be ‘well connected’ when it comes to Brazilians. In an interview with Metro, former Gunner and Brazil international Gilberto Silva said: “We know the importance in football of being well connected, to people, clubs, sporting directors, presidents of the club.”

Silva is of course referring to Arsenal technical director and former teammate Edu and continued: “There is big competition to get the best players, from the best leagues. For Palmeiras, they are going to receive a lot of calls from many clubs, the best clubs in the world to try and bring him to them. Let’s see, if at some point Arsenal did manage to bring the player, they will be getting a very good player.”