A Broken Process

When Chelsea signed Andrey Santos, the club’s future seemed secure with the young Brazilian. The move at such a young age came with the caveat that Santos would need time and space to develop.

His stunted progress mirrors issues that plenty of young Brazilians are running into.

Until the 1990s, as in many other nations, Brazilians tended to spend the majority, if not their entire, careers in their homeland. The emergence of Ronaldo and Ronaldinho eventually created an even stronger pipeline for Brazilians to Europe.

Neymar broke people’s brains in the early 2010s, creating a new wave of Brazilian talents who would take center stage across Europe. However, besides Vini Jr., that wave eventually broke, leaving Brazil in a weird place. The Prem, alongside La Liga, played a fascinating role in the “disappointments” of this era.

Following another embarrassing exit for La Seleção, explanations as to why the five-time champions failed again filled opinion pieces across the globe. One of the more interesting ideas concerns how quickly Brazilian players are scooped up by Europe. From Endrick to Estêvão, at ever younger ages, it seems that European clubs are fighting to find the next great Brazilian savior.

Santos represents issues that hamper both Brazil and Chelsea.

The desire to find the next great obscures the necessary development to make those players into the stars they were promised to be.

After his first season with Barcelona, Neymar seemed well on his way to fulfilling the dreams everyone had for him in the early 2010s. The mixtapes produced by the phenom electrified fans and clubs alike, producing a desire to find the next icon.

While it may seem he dazzled fans at an early age, Neymar moved to Europe with considerable experience for a 21-year-old. Having made his debut in 2009, Neymar eventually finished his first stint at Santos with over 170 appearances. By 21, Neymar had already played enough games to be considered a veteran.  

Neymar is an outlier, one of the greatest and most electrifying talents that the sport has ever seen; no one can truly be compared to him. However, looking at other Brazilians of that generation shows a similar pattern. Both Casemiro and Danilo also made the jump to Europe in their early 20s, with enough appearances to develop them properly.

Players like both Casemiro and Danilo, as well as some like Alex Sandro, took time to develop in Europe as well. After all, no one possessed the God-given skill of Neymar. 

The Portuguese league, especially clubs like Benfica and Porto, became finishing schools for players still too raw to cut it in Europe’s top flights. Plenty of players from across South America benefited from this pipeline, from Argentinians to Colombians. For those who developed enough, only a season or two was required before they could make that move.

Eventually, this produced players who joined larger clubs and developed enough to contribute at some level. For someone like Danilo, the midfielder almost immediately became a key cog for one of the greatest sides in football history. Others, like Alex Sandro, took time to become starters, but for the most part, they didn’t completely flame out.

Flops like Gabriel Barbosa still existed, as they would in any other generation, but there seemed to be fewer high-profile ones.

This process tried its best to minimize risk rather than avoid paying a large fee. 

So many clubs missed out on Neymar and plenty of other talented Brazilians that clubs now make sure that any young Brazilian is scouted heavily. This means that fans become familiar with the next big thing coming out of Brazil much faster.

Think of how quickly Endrick, after making his debut at such an early age, became the talk of Europe. Madrid acted fast to bring in the Brazilian before he could even fully break out with Palmeiras. In fact, within two months of his professional debut, the Spanish giants signed him at 16. 

Santos soon drew Europe’s attention after breaking out with Vasco da Gama, with Chelsea bringing him in. Unlike Endrick, who Real Madrid threw into the fire, Santos was given time to adapt to life at the highest level. One good season at Strasbourg eventually pushed Chelsea to find a path for him in the first team, but nothing changed for Santos.

Now, this potential move to United feels like the end of an era for both Brazil and Chelsea. While Santos has yet to be a key player for either side, his failures thus far mirror the issues of all parties.

In an attempt to find the next Brazilian superstar, clubs now feel that they must bring in these players as early as possible. Essentially, forgoing their chance to develop in their home country, players are taken to foreign lands and must adapt to the demands of their new clubs. For clubs, this process remains low risk given that they spend less on the base fee than they would have spent on developing the player.

In the Brazilian footballing scene, a talent drain has always existed, but it has now accelerated.

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Rather than allowing players to spend years developing, in turn helping the Brazilian federation, players are spat out by Europe’s giants. One can’t really blame Brazilian clubs, as the money they’re offering at this point is a safe return that can be reinvested.

While the Santos move to United may be what allows him to finally break out, the process that brought him to this moment is the issue.

A desire to essentially find the next Neymar helped destroy the careers of so many promising talents.

Whatever new era both Brazil and Chelsea enter into in the next few years, the mistakes of the past will haunt them. So much lost time eventually piled up, rendering this previous chapter a failure.

Fans can only hope that the high-profile nature of these collapses inspires some sort of change.