Jorge Jesus believes that Reinier Jesus is an exceptionally gifted player who has what it takes to succeed at Real Madrid.
Jesus worked with Reinier at Flamengo, with the 17-year-old part of the team that won the Brazilian League, the Copa Libertadores and reached the final of the Club World Cup in 2019.
Jesus spoke to MARCA about his experiences in charge of Flamengo as well as Reinier's chances of making it at Los Blancos.
Q. What was the Club World Cup final with Liverpool like?
A. It was a unique moment in my career. It's true that we didn't win the final, but we played against the best team [in the world] at the moment. In my opinion, Liverpool are the best right now. And Flamengo can say that they went toe to toe with the one of Europe's big clubs. You didn't notice the difference between the two teams. Now, Flamengo are a club with a brand in Europe, with good structure and great players.
Q. Reinier is joining Real Madrid and you were his last coach. What can you say about this young Brazilian star?
A. He's a young player with lots of talent, but they don't look at him like they looked at Joao Felix, with all the pressure that he had. I really believe in Reinier, I've had various chats with him and we spoke a lot about what he could look over, how he could improve, his defects, what he needed to address. We spoke a lot, I taught him about various exemplar players for Reinier to have a reference.
Reinier is a very intelligent kid, he likes to learn and I can say that he's exceptionally gifted. Physically, he's exceptionally gifted for his position of second striker, but they don't invent, don't put him on the wing because it's going to strangle him. The system is key to him performing, For example, he finds it difficult to play in a 4-3-3.
Q. Do you think Reinier will succeed in Spain?
A. I think so. He's only 17 years old but physically he's got extraordinary characteristics. He's very strong technically and he's five years ahead of his age on the pitch, he plays as if he were a 22-year-old in terms of emotion and intelligence. Now he has to grow, he's not Joao Felix, they're different.
The Portuguese has more goalscoring characteristics while Reinier is technically gifted and he doesn't like playing as a striker, he likes having another player alongside him and he's very strong in the middle of midfielders.
Q. Have you spoken to him about Real Madrid?
A. I haven't had time, but I'm sure that he's mature enough. He'll arrive at Real Madrid ready and calm to do his job. But it's necessary to give him time so that he can grow as a player and this is very important so that he can succeed at Real Madrid one day.