Rising England youth international Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez will benefit hugely from the arrival of Real Madrid star Endrick in Lyon.
The 17-year-old is making his breakthrough in his second professional season in France after signing a three-year deal from Southampton last year.
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He was born in Venezuela and also has a Portuguese passport due to his grandparents and played for both at youth level.
However, the striker has only been active with the Young Lions since 2023, most recently for England’s U17s at the World Cup last month.
Gomes Rodriguez, who broke the Southampton Youth Football League record with 334 goals in 136 games, moved to Lyon in 2024, with the Saints only receiving a paltry £150,000 compensation package.
Alejandro Gomes Rodriguez profile
He made his debut against Lens in May and was on the bench in the 2-2 draw in the Europa League quarter-final first leg against Manchester United.
Gomes Rodriguez has since become a regular in Lyon’s England first-team squad, which also includes Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Tyler Morton.
The 1.75 meter tall striker played twice in the Europa League and played in the Coupe de France after returning from the U17 World Cup.
Lyon have now completed a loan deal with Endrick from Real Madrid, whose online presentation has already broken the club’s attendance record.
Paulo Fonseca has promised the Brazilian game time to feature at next summer’s World Cup, but European football expert Andy Brassell believes this will not be a disadvantage for Gomes Rodriguez.
“It’s easy to see the signing of Endrick as an obstacle for Gomes Rodriguez,” he told The Pitch Prospect.com. “But I would just say he’s 17 years old.”
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“Someone the coaching team really values”
Brassell continued: “He can’t really expect to take on the leadership role at one of the bigger clubs in Europe.”
“I think the fact that he is in the squad shows how much they value and appreciate him.
“But there was also a real feeling that Paulo Fonseca and his coaching staff really wanted to protect Gomes Rodriguez.”
“That’s why he’s had some chances now. He’s had some chances in Ligue 1 and the Europa League and now the Coupe de France.”
“He’s someone that the coaching staff really values. It would be easy to throw him in and all of a sudden he gets whipped and it’s too much for him. I think they used him quite sensibly.”
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A sign of Gomes Rodriguez’s high esteem is that he has seemingly usurped Enzo Molebe in the pecking order, who was ranked among the top 60 young talents in world football last year.
“I think what’s been interesting in the last few months and a bit is that he’s jumped up the pecking order above Enzo Molebe. Another young striker who recently signed a new contract, just like Gomes Rodriguez did a month or two ago.”
“So you clearly want to build forward with these guys. But Molebe is someone who scored a lot of goals for Lyon as a youth.”
“It was always assumed that Molebe would be ahead of Gomes Rodriguez in the queue, but Gomez Rodriguez has made much better use of his first-team minutes than Molebe.”
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An example of this was Lyon’s 3-0 win over sixth division club Saint-Cyr Collonges, in which Gomes Rodriguez scored his team’s second goal from the bench alongside Pavel Sulc.
“That’s what I think people really like about Gomes Rodriguez in general during the preseason,” Brassell added.
“The fact that he’s just chasing lost causes. And for someone who’s 17 and not built like a brick toilet, the fact that he has that level of industry fits perfectly with what Lyon and Fonseca are trying to achieve.”
“I think he will have to put in a lot of appearances until the end of the season if he can do that in the final minutes of games. There is no doubt that Endrick will definitely be in the starting line-up.”
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Two advantages of Endrick’s Lyon transfer
“But there are two advantages to Endrick getting there for Gomes Rodriguez. First, he can learn from someone who is older, more advanced and more successful than him at the moment.”
“And two, because Endrick is going to play every game, there are going to be moments where they want to protect him and shut him down.”
“The kind of directness that Endrick has, I think Gomes Rodriguez can teach himself.”
“We’ve seen some of that. He’s very team-oriented, but at the same time he’s a little bit greedy. Endrick, as soon as he gets the ball, he wants a shot. That’s what he wants to do.”
“Martin Satriano, who played a lot of games as a center forward, is simply not going to be a consistent goalscorer.”
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“I think Gomes Rodriguez could do it in the long term and look forward.”
“The problems that Satriano and to some extent Molebe had just pushed Gomes Rodriguez up a little bit.”
“If you’re looking for someone to back up Endrick, he’s a really good choice. Someone who can really take on tired defenders, and he’s the last person you want to see as a tired defender.”
“So I think he’s doing well. The coaching staff really, really likes him.”
“The club has committed to him in the medium term and extended his contract. There is still a lot to do for him this season.”