La Liga
This is an updated version of an article first published in September 2024.
In December 2019, Reinier Jesus was asked to attend a meeting with his family and representatives at the hotel South American champions Flamengo were using as their base for the old 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 ($35m; £26m 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 Madrid initially, with Borussia Dortmund of Germany, Dutch side Ajax and Everton all in a good position to sign him.
Madrid blew those plans out of the water. They beat Manchester City to Reinier’s signature in 2020 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, following the route taken by his compatriots Vinicius Junior (a €45m signing from Flamengo announced in 2017) and Rodrygo (€40m from fellow Brazilians Santos in 2018).
