Endrick has picked a number at Real Madrid that carries bad luck. Will he break the curse?

Endrick recently transferred to Real Madrid and chose number 16. Of course he has to wait for a number 7, 10 etc, so he didn’t have much to choose from. Anyway, this number has been associated with bad luck in the Spanish big club for 14 years. None of the players with this number have been able to make a long-term career at the club since 2010. Will the Brazilian super talent break the curse?

• Endrick is still waiting for a goal in the white jersey
• The Brazilian starts with number 16, which has a negative history
• Mayoral, Canales and others have failed with number 16

Endrick hasn’t scored yet

Real Madrid have played 2 friendlies so far and failed to win either. To start with, they lost 0:1 to AC Milan and on Saturday night Barcelona won 1:2 in El Clasico.

The Brazilian didn’t make an impact in either game, and wasn’t even seen much. “He needs to calm down more and then he can be even better,” supports teammate Thibaut Courtois. Endrick, however, must fear the worst.

History of number 16

Sergio Canales transferred to Real in 2010. The then 19-year-old cost the royal club €6 million. With tough competition in the form of Angel di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain and of course Cristiano Ronaldo, he failed to make his mark. He has only played 15 games in the white jersey in a year and a half and his career is more associated with Valencia and Real Betis.

A similar fate befell Turkish Hamit Altintop, whose brother also played for Prague Slavia. In 2011, the White Ballet signed him as a free agent. The Turkish player lasted only 1 year in Madrid and moved to Galatasaray. 11 games in 365 days is not a big deal. After that, Casemiro donned the number 16 jersey and his deliverance was a loan spell at Porto.

The unfortunate number went from Brazilian to Brazilian. Ancelotti chose Lucas Silva for the number six position during his time at Real. The then 22-year-old midfielder spent just half a year at Real, during which he appeared in 9 games. After that, he just wandered around on loan and in 2019 his contract expired, which Real were definitely not interested in extending.

The first player to make at least a bit of a name for himself is Mateo Kovacic. Rafael Benítez picked him up for €38 million from Inter Milan. The Croatian midfielder spent 3 years in Spain during which he won the Champions League 3 times. 109 games in the white jersey is certainly no disgrace, unfortunately much more was expected of him.

James Rodriguez really didn’t have happy numbers at Real Madrid. First he put on the cursed number 10 and then after his loan spell at Bayern he put on number 16. 7 goals and 10 assists are definitely not great numbers. The Colombian then left for Ancelotti’s Everton, where at one point he was rolling in the Premier League, but that wasn’t enough to restart his career.

The last holders

Borja Mayoral was on course to make the starting line-up. However, after moving from Getafe, he only played 2 LaLiga games all year. After the season, he traded Madrid for Rome, where he was also not happy. The last example is Luka Jovic. The €63 million player has 51 games and 3 goals in the white jersey! Fans are hoping that a similar scenario will not befall Endrick.

Source: Transfermarkt, Football-espana