Real Madrid made some bold moves this summer transfer window, and while arguably the biggest was signing stud RB Leipzig winger Yan Diomande for a record 140 million euros, they made just as intriguing of a call in switching Gonzalo Garcia for Carlos Espi, selling their best academy attacker to Alvaro Arbeloa and Premier League side Fulham in order to rescue the latter from Levante.
While Garcia was a known commodity to Real Madrid and rated higher than Espi by fans, Real Madrid highly recommended Espi, with Jose Mourinho and Juni Calafat fully on board the idea of selling Garcia, despite liking him a lot, to a London based club in the Premier League for more money than what they bought Espi for from the Frogs.
Garcia had a great debut game for Arbeloa at Fulham with a goal in a tough 3-2 loss to rivals Chelsea, but Real Madrid are not regretting that at all, though they are happy for the young Spanish striker and do miss him.
Carlos Espi brings dynamism to the table
No, they are even happier for Espi, who looked like the perfect player off the bench for Real Madrid, scoring the winning goal with scrap, taking the ball from a fumbling Kylian Mbappe and doing what the Frenchman had failed to do all game long against Espanyol - be decisive and put the game away.
Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid knew that they needed a real No. 9 to win these exact tough matchups in La Liga, and in Carlos Espi, they have found that guy. Throughout the second half against Espanyol when he came on, he caused chaos, pressing like insane, creating chances for others, and grabbing the goal when the chance fell at his feet.
Real Madrid fans are realizing that Espi has something that Garcia does not. Garcia is a very intelligent player with the technical quality and shooting ability to get goals, but Espi has all of that and the height while being even stronger, more physical, and much more agile and fast.
You have to be fast to play in the Real Madrid attack, press, and get chances. Garcia was too stagnant, sluggish even, to have that spark and versatility. Espi provides Real Madrid what young Gonzalo G was missing, and Madrid already benefited from that on Matchday 1 against an Espanyol side that could have easily caused an upset without his services on the pitch.
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