Zero minutes at Real Madrid, Rodrigo Fabri advises Endrick to leave

Rodrigo Fabri never played a single official minute for Real Madrid despite spending four years in the Spanish capital, and he openly regrets it. In an interview with newspaper AS, the former Brazilian midfielder, who arrived in 1998 after turning down offers from Roma and La Corogne, gives a candid assessment of an aborted Madrid career.

“In hindsight, it was clearly a mistake to sign for Real,” he says. “I think that in Italy or Galicia, I would have played regularly and could have established myself. I had Heynckes, Camacho, Hiddink, Toshack and Del Bosque as managers and none of them really trusted me.” Loaned to Valladolid during the 1999-2000 season, where he had shown promise, Fabri failed to convince upon his return to the Bernabéu. “I was convinced I had won my place in the team,” he recalls.

He sees his own path mirrored in his compatriot Endrick. The Brazilian striker, loaned to Lyon last season, has accumulated only four minutes of play since the start of the 2026-2027 season with the Merengue. For Fabri, the diagnosis is clear-cut: “It’s obvious he barely counts. He’s very young, he has talent. I would tell him that if he doesn’t have many opportunities, as is currently the case, the best thing is for him to leave for another club where he can play and develop.”

The comparison between the two trajectories is striking: same status as a great Brazilian prospect, same marginalization within a bloated squad, same solution considered — a loan. According to several sources close to the matter, the possibility of seeing Endrick leave Madrid in January during the winter transfer window is increasingly being seriously considered.