Reinier Jesus: The story of Real Madrid’s forgotten €30m Brazilian wonderkid (2024)

In December 2019, Reinier Jesus was asked to attend a meeting with his family and representatives at the hotel South American champions Flamengo’s squad were using as their base for the Club World Cup in Qatar. The then 17-year-old Brazilian playmaker couldn’t hide his excitement when he was told Real Madrid were strongly interested in signing him.

Reinier had paved the way for an exit after an affordable release clause was inserted into his latest contract with Flamengo — €30million ($33m; £25m at current exchange rates), which would rise to €35m in July 2020 and €70m in January 2021 if he stayed with the Rio de Janeiro club that long. But the plan had been to move to a smaller European team than sporting behemoth Madrid initially, with Borussia Dortmund of Germany, Dutch side Ajax and Everton from the Premier League all in a good position to sign him.

However, Madrid blew those plans out of the water. They beat Manchester City to Reinier’s signature after his father went to visit the Premier League club’s facilities. Other English sides had shown interest, while there were a few enquiries from Madrid’s city rivals Atletico.

But Reinier opted for the record European champions (13 wins then, now 15), following the route taken by his compatriots Vinicius Junior (a €45million signing from Flamengo announced in 2017) and Rodrygo (€40m from fellow Brazilians Santos in 2018). It was part of a clear strategy from Madrid to attract the best possible young talent — particularly from Brazil — after president Florentino Perez’s frustration at missing out on Neymar, another starlet from there, to Barcelona in 2013.

That policy was led by Juni Calafat, a Spanish-Brazilian executive at Madrid who is now their chief scout. After Calafat’s trusted staff in Brazil singled out Reinier as someone worth watching, he won over the player’s family with visits there to forge a good relationship. The allure of playing for Madrid did the rest.

Reinier had a few days off between that pre-Christmas Club World Cup and South America’s Under-23 Pre-Olympic tournament, staged in Colombia in the January and February. That was when he received a call from his father telling him the deal with Madrid had been agreed.

They would pay Reinier’s €30million release clause, with 80 per cent of the money going to Flamengo, 10 per cent to the family and the remaining 10 per cent to the player’s agent. Reinier, and his family, immediately started studying Spanish. He would join Castilla, Madrid’s reserve team, for the remainder of that 2019-20 season with a further six years on his deal.

Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo had yet to fulfil their promise at the Bernabeu when Reinier joined, but his idea was to reach the pair’s current heights.

Instead, the now 22-year-old has just agreed a loan to second-division Granada for the rest of the season — his fourth loan move since arriving 2020 — and is yet to make a first-team appearance for his parent club.

This is the story of Madrid’s forgotten €30million Brazilian wonderkid.

The Covid-19 pandemic, which shut down the world in the spring of 2020, affected Reinier’s start at Madrid.

The midfielder had also spent a year with almost no rest from football when he first moved to Spain, with 10 days off between returning from the Club World Cup in Qatar and travelling to Brazil’s training camp ahead of that Pre-Olympic tournament in Colombia. From there, he went back to Rio, packed his bags and flew back across the Atlantic to Madrid.

Reinier scored two goals and provided an assist in three appearances for Castilla, managed then and now by legendary former Madrid striker Raul, before the Segunda season was paused in March due to the pandemic, eventually resuming three months later.

Reinier spent his time during lockdown training at home and in the May then-coach Zinedine Zidane called him up to join first-team training, where it became clear that he did not have a place in the senior squad but was already too good for Castilla.

He left on a two-year loan to Dortmund that summer, a deal including an option to buy, after multiple clubs showed interest in him — Madrid only agreed to that length as they felt it would encourage the Germans to bid for Reinier. Dortmund would also pay a €5million loan fee.

But his spell in the Bundesliga did not go to plan.

Reinier considered cutting short the loan in January 2021 due to a lack of game time and, despite seeing that first season out, he only had 340 minutes of action in 19 appearances. Dortmund approached Madrid about the possibility of signing him permanently later that year, but they rejected the offer. He then won a gold medal with Brazil at the delayed Tokyo Olympics that August, but played just 405 minutes in 20 games in year two with Dortmund.

Madrid soon realised clubs were far more likely to give opportunities to players who had joined them permanently rather than on loan. Since then, they have often preferred to sell their young players while putting affordable buy-back clauses and a first right of refusal into their deals.

For Reinier, that policy came too late. He tried to get his career back on track with a loan to La Liga newcomers Girona in the 2022-23 season, but injuries hampered his development. Despite showing some promising signs, he scored just twice and provided one assist in 620 minutes of action across 18 games.

Last summer, Madrid again looked for a loan club for Reinier who were willing to cover a large part of the player’s salary of around €3million net per year. When that did not materialise, the player had limited options. He joined Frosinone in Italy’s Serie A on September 1, deadline day, scoring three goals and providing two assists in 23 appearances for a side eventually relegated after finishing 18th in the 20-team division.

This summer has not been easy either.

Reinier contacted Madrid in July to find out when he was due to start pre-season and received a reply on the 15th of that month. Days later, he found out he would be considered a player for Castilla once more rather than the first team this season when a specialist from Raul’s staff wrote to him asking him if he needed a training plan. The Brazilian said he had already been working with a personal trainer in his home country.

There were few offers for Reinier, given his performances and Madrid’s request for any loan club to cover a large chunk of the playmaker’s salary.

Norwich City of the English Championship (second tier) were in a good position to sign him, but the player wanted to wait in case he was able to stay in Spain. His agents shared Norwich’s interest with Madrid in mid-August, which explained Reinier’s absence from Castilla’s first game of the season, a trip to Marbella, despite being registered as one of their players.

According to sources close to Reinier, who asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships, no agreement was reached with Norwich due to the strict conditions Madrid imposed regarding any possible buy option.

Brazilian clubs had been monitoring his situation and Spanish second-division sides Tenerife and Eibar both asked Madrid about a possible loan. Another Championship side, Watford, were a possibility, given their assistant coach Alberto Garrido had joined them from the Castilla staff in June.

Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti’s response to a question about Reinier, two days before last week’s transfer deadline, summed up the player’s bleak situation. “I recommend that he looks for a team where he can show his qualities,” the Italian said.

Second-tier Spanish side Granada emerged as late contenders for Reinier’s signature and quickly convinced him, with a season-long loan deal announced on Friday. But Reinier is upset with his constantly changing situation and has not felt supported by Madrid, who have barely been in contact with him during these deals.

He still believes in his quality but has known for some time that a future at Madrid is no longer viable as the club don’t trust him. Madrid directed The Athletic to Castilla when they were contacted for comment on this article.

Granada’s social media accounts welcomed Reinier as a ‘Rei’ or king, showing him sitting on a throne with a lion next to him in the city’s iconic Alhambra palace.

Whether this is the loan where he can finally reign supreme remains to be seen.

🕌 𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐄𝐑 𝐈 𝐃𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐃𝐀. pic.twitter.com/c28eHX6vID

— Granada CF ❤️⚪️ (@GranadaCF) August 30, 2024

(Top photo: Reinier at his Real Madrid presentation; Mateo Villalba/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)

Mario Cortegana Santos is a Football Writer for The Athletic covering Real Madrid. He has followed Los Blancos since 2019 at Diario AS, Goal.com and MARCA. He usually appears on Gol TV and is a main collaborator in the YouTube show The Four Amigos Podcast. He has covered the EURO 2020 and Qatar 2022. Follow Mario on Twitter @MarioCortegana