RIO DE JANEIRO — Even in death the haggling went on.

Christian Esmério was going to be the one — his family had been sure of it.

He was 15 and towering, a soccer player with an easy smile that belied his prowess between the goal posts. Already there was talk of contracts, and of buying a home for his parents, who had poured all their savings into the dream that their son might be the next great Brazilian soccer export — the next Ronaldo, Ronaldinho or Neymar.

Now, his father stood in a daze of grief outside a Rio office building, surrounded by lawyers. Just days earlier, Christian had burned to death in a fire at the youth academy of one of South America’s most famous soccer clubs, Flamengo. He was one of 10 players killed.

The deaths lifted the veil over international soccer’s biggest production line, and raised sweeping questions about a brutal apparatus that chews up untold numbers of young Brazilian boys for every star it mints.