There are two weeks of this transfer window left, and Real Madrid had hoped to spend them talking about football rather than about their most valuable young asset. Instead, the Endrick Liverpool story is back on the front of the Spanish market pages. According to Fichajes, as relayed by Bernabéu Digital, Liverpool are preparing an offer of around €65m for the Brazilian, a figure that would force Los Blancos to think properly about a player they keep insisting they do not want to sell.
Nothing has been formally lodged. This is a report of intent, not a bid on a desk at Valdebebas, and it should be read that way. But it lands at the worst possible moment for a club whose forward line is already short of one first-choice attacker and whose 20-year-old striker has spent August waiting for minutes rather than winning a place.
- What Fichajes actually report about Liverpool’s €65m plan
- Why the Real Madrid position remains no sale, at least for now
- How many minutes are genuinely available to Endrick this season
- The financial case for cashing in, and why it is stronger than it looks
- What the last fortnight of the window could realistically bring
Background: how Endrick arrived at this point
Endrick returned to Madrid on 1 July after a loan spell at Lyon, back in a first-team squad rather than out on hire, and back into a competition for minutes that had not got any easier while he was away. His summer since has been a mixture of promise and interruption. He is one of three Madrid players on the 100-man shortlist for the 2026 Golden Boy, alongside Yan Diomande and Thiago Pitarch, and Bernabéu Digital, citing Tuttosport place him eighth in the current rolling ranking — behind Pau Cubarsí and Lamine Yamal, but ahead of most of Europe.
Then came the interruption. A muscle overload picked up at Valdebebas cost him the trip to Gelsenkirchen, and he watched the Schalke friendly from a distance while Mourinho gave the pre-season stage to others. That is the frustrating shape of his Madrid career so far: a player everyone agrees is a future starter, rarely on the pitch long enough to argue the point.
It is not the first time this summer that a Premier League club has been attached to his name, either. Madrid have already fielded interest from England, and this desk reported both an exploratory loan to the Premier League and, days later, Chelsea circling again for the Brazilian. The difference now is the shape of the proposal.
The core of the Endrick Liverpool story
What Liverpool are reportedly preparing
Bernabéu Digital, relaying Fichajes, describe Liverpool as willing to commit an outlay of more than €60m — approximately €65m — to sign Endrick this season. There is no suggestion in the report that terms have been discussed with the player, that Madrid have set a price, or that a formal approach has been made. Treat it as English interest at a serious valuation, which is a long way from a deal, and a long way from nothing.
The two clubs are, at least, on speaking terms. Ibrahima Konaté arrived at the Bernabéu from Anfield on a free transfer earlier this summer, and Trent Alexander-Arnold made the same journey before him. A third piece of business between them inside two windows would be unusual, but the channel is open.
Why Madrid keep saying no
The club’s position, as Bernabéu Digital set it out, is that a sale is not the priority scenario. The reasoning is developmental rather than sentimental: Madrid believe Endrick still has room to grow before he takes on a leading role, and they want to keep control of how that growth happens. The phrase that recurs in the Spanish coverage is control — the club would rather dictate the terms of his next step than have a bidder dictate them.
That is why the loan conversations have never quite gone away. A temporary move keeps the asset, keeps the buy-back question irrelevant and buys him a season of starts. A €65m sale solves the minutes problem by removing the player, which is the one solution the club has consistently resisted.
The minutes problem nobody at Valdebebas has solved
Here is the honest version of Endrick’s season. Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior are the axis of this attack and will start when fit. Rodrygo, the most adaptable forward at the club, is not expected back until early 2027 after knee surgery, which theoretically opens a place — except that Madrid have spent the summer filling it. Diomande arrived from RB Leipzig for a reported €140m. Brahim Díaz and Franco Mastantuono are both ahead of Endrick in Mourinho’s pre-season pecking order on current evidence.
Then there is Carlos Espí. The forward signed quietly from Levante finished the summer as Madrid’s leading scorer, with two goals in four appearances across 153 minutes and not a single start, according to AS via Madrid Universal. A 20-year-old competing for the third or fourth forward slot does not usually beat the man in possession of the manager’s attention.
The squad arithmetic is unforgiving too. Madrid filled all 25 LaLiga places and declared their incoming business complete earlier this month, even with the window open until 31 August. Endrick is inside that squad. Being inside it and being in the eleven are different things.
The counter-argument: why €65m is hard to wave away
Real Madrid have run this summer as a trading club as much as a buying one. La Fábrica has been the engine: Jacobo Ortega’s record €10m move to Strasbourg was the headline, one of a run of academy sales that has reshaped the balance sheet. Set against that, a €65m fee for a forward who is fifth or sixth in the attacking order is not an insult. It is the market telling Madrid what their bench is worth.
There is a football argument as well, and it belongs to the player. Endrick is 20. He has a Golden Boy nomination, a World Cup cycle ahead of him and a Brazil place to fight for. A season of substitute cameos behind Mbappé, Vinícius and a €140m signing does not obviously serve him better than a season of starts somewhere that wants him at the centre of things. That case has been made about plenty of Madrid youngsters before, and the club has usually ended up conceding it — on loan.
And Endrick is not the only name on the exit page. Bernabéu Digital’s market blog lists him alongside Álvaro Carreras, who is reported to be a Juventus priority, under the heading of players who could be edging towards the door. The club’s public line is that the squad is finished. The Spanish market pages are not convinced.
Future outlook: the next fortnight, and the season after it
The realistic outcomes narrow quickly. The most likely is that nothing happens: Liverpool never formalise anything, Madrid repeat that he is not for sale, and Endrick starts the campaign as an impact substitute with a Copa del Rey and Champions League group-stage workload to grow into. The window shuts on 31 August, which leaves very little room for a €65m negotiation to be built from scratch.
The second scenario is the loan that has been circling all summer, most recently with Chelsea attached. It is the version that suits everyone on paper and the version Madrid have steered towards before. The third — an outright sale at a fee in the €65m range — would need Madrid to reverse a stated position and to accept that the player they signed as a long-term centre-forward will not be theirs. On the current evidence, that requires either a significantly larger number or a change of heart from Mourinho.
Longer term, the Rodrygo timeline matters more than any of this. If the Brazilian is out until 2027, Madrid will need a fourth forward they trust between now and then. The cheapest solution to that problem is already at the club, is 20 years old, and is currently being valued at €65m by somebody else.
What it comes down to
Strip away the numbers and the Endrick Liverpool story is the same question Madrid have been dodging since 1 July: what is this player for, this season? Until the club can answer that with a role rather than a reassurance, every window will bring another version of this report. For now, the line from Madrid is no sale, the interest is unofficial, and the LaLiga opener at Espanyol on Saturday is the more useful piece of evidence. Watch who comes off the bench, and how early. Keep up with the rest of the window with our coverage of Real Madrid’s summer transfer business.
