The unknown "beast" who saved Mourinho's debut: a surprise signing from Real Madrid is already being compared with a Bayern bogeyman
When Real Madrid signed Carlos Espi at the end of July, many probably raised their eyebrows. But the unknown striker has already won favour with Jose Mourinho.
"Like Joselu Junior," Jude Bellingham hailed the first statement made by his new team-mate, a player who probably would not really have meant much even to him a little over a month ago. Carlos Espi had just spared Real Madrid a false start to the new LaLiga season, scoring the winning goal for 2-1 in the 90th minute of the opening game at Espanyol Barcelona. He came off the bench and struck only ten minutes later, just as Joselu once did, currently without a club, when his late brace in the second leg of the 2024 Champions League semi-final sealed Bayern Munich's exit and sent Real into the final.
It was not just the timing and the impact from the bench that made Espi's goal feel like Joselu. The finish did too: Kylian Mbappe could not get his shot away after a dribble in the penalty area, Espi had taken up a good position, sensed the chance, collected the ball five metres from goal and cleverly hammered it into the net. Exactly the way a classic No 9 in the mould of Joselu does it.
Mourinho, back in charge at Real, was desperate to add exactly that kind of striker to his squad this summer, especially as academy product Gonzalo Garcia, another forward of this type, had moved to Fulham. Thanks to Espi, the Portuguese could breathe again, with the surprise signing rescuing his competitive return to the Bernabeu. Dropped points at the start of the league campaign would have brought negative headlines straight away.
Carlos Espi at Real Madrid: the "beast" as the "happiest man in the world"
"I am the happiest man in the world," rejoiced Espi after his first goal in his first competitive game for Los Blancos. "The coach wanted me to work as hard as possible, form the attack with Kylian and help him. It was crazy when I had the whole team around me during the celebrations."
When Real announced Espi's signing at the end of July, plenty of people probably did a double take. Carlos who? A glance at the fee only added to the surprise, with the Spanish runners-up paying as much as €25 million for a player who was still a complete unknown internationally. The 21-year-old was already known to most football fans in Spain before his move to Real, though not for very long.
Nothing in Espi's journey up to this point suggested he would one day end up among the stars at the Bernabeu. Raised in a small town near Valencia, he stayed under the radar of bigger clubs for a long time. Until shortly before his 17th birthday, he played in the youth ranks of UD Alzira, whose first team had at least spent several years in Spain's fourth tier until recently.
Only at 16 did the 1.94-metre striker make the move to UD Levante from nearby Valencia. Even then, Espi's standout trait was his physicality, which he owed to a growth spurt shortly beforehand. "Being already over 1.90 metres tall at 16 was an important characteristic in his position," Levante's then academy chief Joaqui Navarro recalled in an interview with The Athletic. However, Espi "still had ground to make up in many areas of his game, especially when playing with his back to goal", Navarro stressed.
Carlos Espi: from UD Levante to Real Madrid
Levante worked hard on that side of his game. Espi developed quickly and, only a year and a half after arriving, made his professional debut at 18 for the then second-division side. He scored his first goal in just his second appearance, became an established part of the first team in 2024/25 and contributed six goals as a substitute to Levante's return to LaLiga.
"What is special about Espi is that he needs only very few chances to score," his former mentor Navarro explained, describing efficiency as one of his greatest strengths. Even so, after promotion Espi went through a difficult spell in his still young career at Levante. At first he barely played, often spent the full 90 minutes on the bench, and could not get ahead of Karl Etta Eyong, the million-euro signing who was at times apparently also coveted by Barcelona.
That makes Espi's rapid rise to the Bernabeu even more surprising, and it underlines how strongly Mourinho and Co. believe in his potential. At the start of the year, Espi had only just under 100 LaLiga minutes in his legs, spread across five brief appearances. The fact Levante were going badly off the rails in the first half of last season actually worked in the youngster's favour.
"We were in a very difficult situation, with just ten points at the winter break," president Pablo Sanchez recalled to The Athletic, adding: "It then became clear to us: if we go down, we will at least do so while following our principles." Put plainly, he meant this: if Levante were going back down to the second division, they would at least do it while relying as much as possible on players from their own academy.
"Above all, he scores important goals": the great quality of Carlos Espi
That is why Luis Castro, who once spent a long time working in the youth set-up at Vitoria Guimaraes and Benfica Lisbon, took over as coach shortly before Christmas. "Espi's breakthrough only happened because Castro trusted him," Sanchez explained. Under the new coach, Espi was hardly ever left out completely, used his substitute appearances to make his case for more, and then developed into a decisive factor in Levante's survival.
"He scores goals, but above all he scores important goals," enthused Levante chief Sanchez. Between the end of February and the end of March, Espi scored six times in total across four consecutive league games, always against direct rivals in the relegation battle. First, his brace secured a 2-0 win over Alaves. Then the 1-1 draws against Girona and Rayo Vallecano both came thanks to an Espi goal. Finally, the first two goals in the 4-2 win over Oviedo came from the current Real forward.
Levante stayed in touch with safety throughout, though they still had to sweat it out until the end. Espi finished the season with a strong tally of 11 LaLiga goals, and one of the most important came on the penultimate matchday: against the eventual relegated side Mallorca, Espi put Levante ahead and the scoreboard eventually read 2-0 to the home side. That proved the release valve, with Levante climbing out of the relegation places for the first time in almost half a year.
"Castro said it last season already: the boy has no limit. He will become a star, while also remaining a good person," said Levante chief Sanchez, who is certain of two things. He could also enjoy the proceeds from the second-most expensive sale in the club's history, a deal from which absolutely nothing leaked to the public before the official announcement.
Why was the period around the move to Real Madrid "terrible" for Carlos Espi's father?
"It was terrible," Espi's father Juanjo admitted to radio station Cope about the days surrounding his son's major transfer. Real's officials had asked for absolute discretion, and that was far from easy for the proud father. "Keeping it secret, not being allowed to talk about it ... not even with my mother or my brother, with nobody," Juanjo said, offering an insight into his state of mind.
Since the end of July, he has been able to tell everyone that his boy now plays for the mighty Real. Espi has signed at the Bernabeu until 2031, and the club are making long-term plans with the former Spain Under-19 and Under-20 international. "He is living a dream right now, but he is working incredibly hard for it," Mourinho praised the new signing after the dream competitive debut.
Courtois was on the same page. "It is impressive how he holds his own in training against the likes of Antonio Rüdiger or Ibrahima Konate, he is a beast," the Belgian said of the new arrival's enormous physicality, before revealing that Bellingham's nickname for Espi has long since spread throughout the squad: "We call him Joselu Junior."
