As far as loan seasons go, it has to be one of the most remarkable.
After signing from newly-relegated Espanyol last summer, Joselu scored 17 goals and provided three assists in 49 games for Real Madrid (just 18 of those starts) over 2023-24.
He will always be remembered by Madrid fans for that late brace he scored against Bayern Munich in May to take them through to the Champions League final at Wembley, where they went on to lift a record-extending 15th title.
Following his successful season, which saw him called up for Spain’s Euro 2024 squad, Madrid exercised a €1.5million (£1.3m/$1.6m at current exchange rates) option to buy the 34-year-old striker — only to immediately sell him on to Qatari side Al Gharafa for the same amount.
So why did Madrid not look to keep Joselu, or turn a profit with his sale?
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What’s the situation?
Madrid’s deal with Espanyol last summer for Joselu was a season-long loan for an initial €500,000 fee, with a €1.5million option to buy him at the end of that time.
As The Athletic revealed earlier this month, Madrid had been planning to exercise that option for several weeks — although they wanted to wait for the end of Espanyol’s season, out of respect for the team’s promotion hopes. The Catalan club have now been promoted back to La Liga after beating Real Oviedo 2-0 in the second leg of their play-off final on Sunday, for a 2-1 aggregate win.
Madrid believed Joselu wanted to stay with them, and head coach Carlo Ancelotti had even started thinking about next season with the striker in mind. But on Monday it emerged Joselu had a lucrative offer on the table from Al Gharafa, a club from Al Rayyan, Qatar’s second biggest city, who play in the Stars League, the Gulf nation’s top division. Madrid, though, had known about this offer since last week and were keen to help Joselu, given his contribution for them last term.
The influential agent Pini Zahavi played a key role in the deal as an intermediary. He had been in contact with the Qatar Stars League since February, when it asked him to compile a list of forwards who could help raise the competition’s profile.
Ancelotti had started to plan for next season with Joselu in mind (Oscar J. Barroso/Europa Press via Getty Images)
The intriguing part was how the deal was done.
Rather than Al Gharafa signing Joselu directly from Espanyol, Madrid would activate their €1.5million clause and sell him on for the same amount. On Thursday, Espanyol announced Madrid had exercised that clause ahead of the player’s move to Qatar, and on Friday Madrid confirmed the deal with Al Gharafa.
Why were Madrid still involved with the deal?
From Madrid’s perspective, there might have been the issue of Espanyol wanting to make more money from the transfer if they were not involved. Espanyol’s chief executive Mao Ye alluded to that earlier this week.
“Any club that wants him (that isn’t Madrid) has to negotiate with Espanyol,” Ye said on Tuesday.
But Joselu did not want to rejoin Espanyol, despite them being back in La Liga, and they did not want him to do so either. Sources close to the player — who, like all those cited here, asked for anonymity to protect relationships — feared Al Gharafa might have backed out of the deal if Espanyol wanted to negotiate on the price and ask for more money. His release clause would also have increased if he returned to his parent club.
In the end, this arrangement suited all parties.
In any case, the €1.5million deal agreed with Madrid last summer meant Espanyol did not have much choice.
Joselu did not want to return to Espanyol (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
Did Real Madrid not want to keep him?
Madrid would happily have kept Joselu, given his efficiency in front of goal last season and that cheap option to buy him. But Joselu knew he would get less playing time next season with the arrivals of new striking options Kylian Mbappe and Endrick this summer. According to sources with knowledge of the negotiations, he has been offered by far the highest salary of his career to play in Qatar.
Joselu informed Madrid of this proposal from the Gulf and of his doubts. By Sunday, coaching staff sources were aware he wanted to move to Al Gharafa.
Madrid have shown similar understanding when other players have wanted to leave. They did not stand in the way of Raphael Varane and Casemiro when they moved to Manchester United for big fees in 2021 and 2022 respectively, or when their second all-time top scorer Karim Benzema left for Saudi Pro League side Al Ittihad last year.
It may seem odd that Madrid aren’t making any profit here, but this is partly down to wanting to maintain their links to Espanyol as well as wanting to help Joselu. They have previously paid more than players’ release clauses to keep good relationships with clubs and ensure they have a head start when it comes to doing business with them in future — such as in the case of Arda Guler’s arrival from Fenerbahce last year and Dani Ceballos’ move from Real Betis in 2017.
Why didn’t Joselu want to stay at Madrid?
It is not necessarily about wanting to leave Madrid — but sources close to Joselu say he wants to take advantage of the last chance to make a lucrative move of this kind towards the end of his career.
The Spaniard has experienced a fairytale season with the club he supports after unremarkable spells with three clubs in Germany and with Stoke City and Newcastle United in England. He was a regular scorer for relegation-bound sides in Alaves and Espanyol, but has lived the dream in helping his beloved Madrid achieve a La Liga-Champions League double this year.
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People close to him say it is the best time for him to leave Madrid and that the Qatari offer comes at the right point of his career. They say that Joselu assessed his options carefully and spoke to Madrid’s captain Nacho, who this week announced he was leaving after 23 years, ahead of a move to Saudi Arabian team Al Qadsiah.
Madrid would only have offered Joselu a further year, while the Al Gharafa deal will be for two seasons with the option of a further 12 months after that. At 34 years old, sources close to Joselu say the length of the deal was a significant factor in his thinking.
How did he perform last season?
Joselu earned the affection of everyone at Madrid during his time back in the Spanish capital — having previously scored twice in two appearances for their senior team, after being promoted from their ‘B’ team, Real Madrid Castilla, in 2011.
He played an important role off the bench for Madrid last season. Ancelotti always stressed that the 6ft 3in (190cm) striker provided him with another option up front compared to his usual front two — the club did not sign a top-class centre-forward to replace Benzema last summer, meaning the Italian played wingers Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo in those positions.
Joselu’s brace against Bayern — his goals in the 88th and 91st minutes turned around a Champions League semi-final second leg Madrid were losing when he came on — means he will go down in club folklore. Madrid staff were impressed by his dedication, with one source saying that when they arrived at the training ground on a Monday, “you couldn’t tell if he’d played 10 minutes or if he’d started” the day before.
Joselu’s two late goals off the bench turned the Champions League semi-final against Bayern (David Ramos/Getty Images)
He has played just 72 minutes of Spain’s Euro 2024 campaign so far, starting in the 1-0 win against Albania when Luis de la Fuente’s team had already secured their spot in the knockout phase as Group B winners.
He did not feature in either of their first two games against Croatia or Italy, given captain Alvaro Morata is the team’s undisputed first-choice striker. Spain face Georgia in the round of 16 on Sunday.
Has this ever happened before?
There have been other cases of players being signed by the clubs where they had been on loan, only to then be sold shortly afterwards.
Luka Jovic enjoyed a prolific two seasons on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany from Portugal’s Benfica from 2017-19. Frankfurt exercised their option to buy him for around €8million in April 2019, with Benfica keeping 30 per cent of the profits from any future sale. Two months later, Jovic was sold to Real Madrid, for around €60m.
Madrid have had similar influence on the futures of their academy graduates.
In July 2018, they paid a €4million buy-back clause to re-sign midfielder Omar Mascarell from Frankfurt, before selling him to another German club, Schalke, for €10m the next day.
(Top photo: David S.Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)
