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Topics: Endrick, Real Madrid, Lionel Messi, Football World Cup, Arsenal, Transfers, Barcelona
Ryan Smart
Topics: Endrick, Real Madrid, Lionel Messi, Football World Cup, Arsenal, Transfers, Barcelona
Real Madrid transfer target Endrick deleted a tweet praising Lionel Messi on Tuesday evening after a backlash from the Spanish club's fans.
Messi starred in Argentina's 3-0 World Cup semi-final win over Croatia, scoring the opening goal from the penalty spot before assisting Julian Alvarez for the third goal of the evening.
The football world sat back and marvelled in his performance, with the 35-year-old helping his country to a second World Cup final of his career.
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Amongst those enjoying the PSG star's display was Palmeiras striker Endrick who, at 16, is already being widely tipped as the future star of Brazilian football.
In a tweet, he described Messi as 'absurd' following Argentina's win. However, he received major criticism from some Real fans in the comment section, having praised the greatest player of the club's biggest rivals, Barcelona.
Football Espana claimed that some of the abuse Endrick received following his tweet 'strayed into racism', and the 16-year-old later deleted it from Twitter.
The decision to delete the post resulted in concern from journalists and fans of other clubs over the reaction of Real fans, especially given that Endrick is reportedly set to join Los Blancos from Palmeiras in 2024.
Fabrizio Romano reported on December 8 that Real have a 'full verbal agreement' in place to sign Endrick, although there has been no official announcement made by the club as of yet.
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Therefore, there could still be an opportunity for other clubs to swoop in and change the mind of the young Brazilian.
Arsenal are one of those interested clubs, with football.london claiming the Gunners have sent scouts to watch the Palmeiras talent.
Journalist Jorge Nicola has also reported that Gunners sporting director Edu has a good relationship with the player's agent, which has strengthened links to north London.
Meanwhile, Barcelona boss Xavi told ESPN last month that he had held talks with Endrick over moving to Camp Nou.
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It appears that Real have won the race to sign Endrick, with Romano claiming the only holdup in announcing that deal is due to FIFA not signing off on the deal as of yet.
However, other clubs - including Arsenal - could still theoretically attempt to jump in and convince the forward to join them instead.