La Liga London · https://laligalondon.news/features/the-making-of-carlos-espi-how-levantes-saviour-earned-his-real-madrid-move-99723
The making of Carlos Espí: How Levante’s saviour earned his Real Madrid move
13.08.26, 13:59 Updated 04.09.26, 22:24
January 4th 2026 will go down as one of the most important days in Levante’s recent history, for all the right reasons.
It was manager Luis Castro’s first game in charge, after replacing Julian Calero mid-season. Levante went to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan without a win in 11 LaLiga games.
Despíte some promising performances in that winless run, Castro knew he had to introduce some fresh energy and quality to this Levante side if they were to stand any chance of survival
Enter Carlos Espí.
The breakthrough
The young striker had managed just 86 minutes of league action under Calero in the first half of the season, with Ivan Romero and the impressive Karl Etta Eyong preferred, but everything changed that day at Sevilla.
Iker Losada had given La Granota a half-time lead, but with Levante coming under heavy pressure, Espí was called upon in the 65th minute. 12 minutes later, the ball fell kindly to him at the edge of the box, and Espí fired home his first league goal of the season, doubling Levante’s lead and helping pick up a vital victory.
Suddenly, Espí found himself back in the first-team fold, but it would still take a few more cameos off the bench before the goals came.
After an initial burst in form, Levante fell to four consecutive defeats, and heading into injury time at home to Deportivo Alaves, they were destined for a 0-0 draw.
What happened next changed their season.
Vital goals
Espí muscled his way through to score a goal built on pure determination in the 88th minute to send Estadio Ciutat de València into raptures, but the job wasn’t finished yet. That was until he did it again three minutes later.
Two goals in 33 minutes of action, and he was the name on everyone’s lips: a 20-year-old Levante academy graduate had given them a lifeline in the relegation battle.
Development in football is not a linear process, and sometimes you need the perfect storm to come along to create an opportunity to succeed.
For Espí, the lightning struck at the start of March.
His return to first-team action coincided with interest in Etta Eyong from Spartak Moscow, causing a rift between player and club. The striker was dropped, and this was part of the reason that Espí was even on the pitch to pop up with goals.
The brace against Alaves meant that Espí was rewarded with a starting spot, and again, he found the back of the net against Girona, putting Levante ahead until a gutting 94th-minute dagger from Marc Roca.
Overnight sensation
Espí quickly went from quiet academy prospect to crucial first-team member within weeks, and he made it six goals in four games with point-winning strikes against Rayo Vallecano and Real Oviedo.
This form was not going unnoticed, with the attacker receiving LaLiga’s Player of the Month award for March ahead of a Monday night kick-off against Getafe.
Hype around Levante’s form under Castro was very much real heading into that game, with Espí the focus as they had a chance to close the gap to safety.
A frustrating first half followed, in which Levante were dominant but had missed a penalty, and Espí had also ballooned a 1v1 chance over the bar.
Some may have seen this as a youngster showing his age, but Espí did not remain grounded. Instead, he leapt in the air and produced a true number nine’s header to win the game.
By this point, Espí’s name was appearing in more and more transfer rumours, and he was even mooted as an option for Spain’s World Cup squad.
Alongside Vedat Muriqi, this was LaLiga’s most in-form number nine, but unlike the Kosovan, this was Espí’s first season of consistent senior football.
Espí would end the season with 11 LaLiga goals in 1338 minutes of action in just 13 starts, a rate of 0.74 goals per 90 minutes.
The inevitable transfer
His aerial threat was the best out of any attacker in the league, and dEspíte playing in a relegation-battling side under huge pressure, his ability to open up space to shoot ranked him highly across all number nines in Europe.
It is no wonder then, that Levante were resigned to losing him this summer, but a huge question remained: where would he go?
There was talk of Villarreal, with Inigo Perez reportedly eyeing up a partnership of Espí and Georges Mikautadze, while several Premier League sides were also heavily linked.
Names such as Hull City and Ipswich Town appeared in the media, but is a promoted Premier League side really where he would end up? Many would argue that there was not a single more important individual in any LaLiga team than what Espí was for Levante.
A lot of top talents left LaLiga for England this summer, so it was something of a welcome sight when Espí elected to remain in his home country. However, the Valencian region was traded for the capital, as a deal was quickly agreed with Real Madrid.
Overnight, the young forward had agreed to a deal and was in training less than 24 hours later. Gonzalo Garcia was shipped off to Fulham, and the boy from Levante was to be his replacement.
No matter how it goes for him at the Santiago Bernabéu, Espí will forever remain in the history books at Levante, as the most expensive homegrown sale in their history, and the reason that they are still in LaLiga right now.
