Actual Madrid have moved quick to resolve their quantity 9 downside. With Gonzalo García on his technique to Fulham, the membership triggered Carlos Espí’s €25 million launch clause at Levante inside hours, tying the 21-year-old to the Bernabéu till June 2031.
Here is what Actual Madrid followers have to find out about their new ahead.
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Who’s he?
Carlos Espí Escrihuela was born on July 24, 2005, in Tavernes de la Valldigna, a small city on the Valencian coast. He joined Levante’s academy in 2022 from native aspect UD Alzira and made his first-team debut in February 2024, aged 18, in a Segunda División fixture in opposition to Racing de Ferrol.
He was a part of the group that helped drag Levante again into La Liga, contributing six objectives in 36 appearances in the course of the promotion marketing campaign, however it was this previous season, within the prime flight, that he made his title with 11 objectives in 13 begins, a Participant of the Month award in March, and the league’s Finest Below-23 Participant prize. He’s additionally a Spain youth worldwide, capped at each U-19 and U-20 degree.
At 6ft4in tall, he’s a bodily presence up prime, a goal man profile who matches the archetype of a contemporary quantity 9 as a lot as a poacher.
The place does he match?
Espí arrives as cowl and long-term succession planning behind Kylian Mbappé, in direct competitors with Endrick for the backup striker position. No person on the Bernabéu expects him to start out recurrently in yr one, however the worth is about what he affords three or 4 seasons from now.
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His statistical profile suggests a participant who thrives on aerial capacity, bodily duels, and ending intuition relatively than build-up play. His heading and long-shot menace stand out, whereas his passing and ball retention underneath stress stay underdeveloped, which remains to be a reasonably regular trade-off for a 21-year-old ahead who spent final season in a counter-attacking Levante aspect, and it’s precisely the form of hole a transfer to a squad with extra possession and craft round him ought to assist shut.
Who does he play like?
Espí is nearer in construct and intuition to a younger Álvaro Morata than to Gonzalo García, whom he immediately replaces on the depth chart. Like Morata at an analogous age, he is a giant body with real aerial high quality and a nostril for near-post finishes, nonetheless engaged on his link-up play and his motion in tight areas.
There are additionally shades of the uncooked, unfinished Joselu who arrived at Madrid on a short-term deal and outperformed expectations largely on motion and ending intuition alone. Espí has extra bodily upside than Joselu had on the identical stage, and significantly extra time to develop it.
VILLARREAL, SPAIN – MAY 02: Carlos Espi of Levante UD celebrates after scoring their aspect’s first objective in the course of the LaLiga EA Sports activities match between Villarreal CF and Levante UD at Estadio de la Ceramica on Could 02, 2026 in Villarreal, Spain. (Photograph by Omar Arnau/High quality Sport Photos/Getty Photos) | Getty Photos
Hyperlinks to Actual Madrid
Espí was already on loads of radars earlier than this deal got here collectively. Everton, Leeds United, and Aston Villa had all been credibly linked along with his launch clause in England over the summer time, with studies as just lately as this week describing him as “on his technique to the Premier League”. Actual Madrid transferring decisively sufficient to beat these golf equipment to a home expertise, relatively than dropping him overseas, is itself a small subplot to the switch.
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He has additionally already stood on the Bernabéu turf in a Madrid shirt on the opposing aspect. He got here off the bench for seven minutes in Levante’s January 17 league go to to the Bernabéu, changing Kareem Tunde within the 83rd minute of a 2-0 defeat, Kylian Mbappé’s penalty and a Raúl Asencio header doing the harm that day. It was a minor look in a chaotic week for the membership, performed simply days after Xabi Alonso’s exit and underneath the interim cost of Álvaro Arbeloa, however it means Espí’s first style of Actual Madrid’s floor got here as an opponent relatively than a brand new signing.
There is a Spain youth connection too. Espí has come by means of the U-19 and U-20 setups alongside Thiago Pitarch, Jesús Fortea, Fran González, and Diego Aguado, a number of of whom are already inside Actual Madrid’s youth pipeline or first-team fringes. That shared worldwide background ought to easy his integration into the dressing room and the Valdebebas atmosphere greater than a typical outdoors signing would.
Financially, the transfer is near self-funding. Gonzalo García’s sale to Fulham for round €40 million comfortably covers the €25 million clause, producing a surplus relatively than including to web spend, and becoming the membership’s current sample of recruiting confirmed younger La Liga scorers relatively than the most important title out there.
What’s been mentioned about him
Levante’s coach Luis Castro, who arrived in December with the membership backside of the desk and remodeled their season, made Espí central to that turnaround. Below Castro, Espí went from a participant who had by no means began a league match earlier than February to the crew’s prime scorer with 11 league objectives, a run credited as one of many two names, alongside Castro himself, behind Levante’s survival.
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Castro stored religion in Espí over extra skilled choices like Cameroonian ahead Etta Eyong as soon as the younger striker’s scoring streak started, a range name that formed the run-in.
Talking about his ahead, Castro mentioned, “I’ve labored with quite a lot of superb, very younger gamers. I am not going to say how far Espí can go, since you’d inform me I am loopy”.