Real Madrid complete signing of Stoke flop as Florentino Perez confirms summer transfer business is OVER
REAL MADRID have confirmed the loan signing of striker Joselu from Espanyol - and declared that is their last piece of summer transfer business.
The Spaniard, who has agreed a season-long deal that has an option to make it permanent, bagged just 10 Premier League goals in four years during stints at Stoke and Newcastle between 2015 and 2019.
He has since revitalised his career back in his native Spain, however, and has now returned to the club where his career began.
Madrid confirmed the news with an image of the 33-year-old in the club’s colours along with a caption on Twitter that read: “Joselu is back.”
He becomes their second signing of the summer following Jude Bellingham’s £115m arrival from Borussia Dortmund last week.
However, it does not seem like Klyian Mbappe will be joining them any time soon from Paris Saint-Germain.
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A video has emerged from last week of Perez signing autographs for young Madrid supporters where he confirmed that Joselu was due to be announced this week.
He then added that there would be no more transfer business done by the club during this window.
The 24-year-old Mbappe rocked PSG this month by submitting a letter declaring his intention to run down his contract.
The ace’s mega deal, worth nearly £900,000-a-week, expires next year.
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And PSG are not prepared to lose him for free, with a summer transfer now increasingly likely.
Real Madrid have long been thought to be Mbappe’s next destination, with Carlo Ancelotti left gutted after missing out on him in 2022.
But now it appears that they have ruled out making a swoop for him ahead of the new season and will instead be happy with Joselu, who won the Nations League with Spain last night, leading their attack.
The forward banged goals in for Real Madrid's B Team, but made just two first team appearances, scoring in both, before being sold to Hoffenheim.
After further spells with Eintracht Frankfurt and Hannover, Joselu joined Stoke for £5.75million in 2015.
He scored four goals in his debut Prem campaign, before being shipped out on loan to Deportivo.
In 2017 he joined Newcastle for £5m, going on to bag seven goals in 52 appearances for the Toon before joining Alaves two years later.
In 2022 he joined Espanyol for what was to be a prolific spell.
The 6ft 4in ace scored 16 goals in LaLiga last term, even breaking into the Spain squad in the process.
He came off the bench to score twice in a dream debut against Norway in March, before earning his first international start for La Roja in their shock 2-0 loss to Scotland.
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Real Madrid had been on the hunt for new centre-forwards following Karim Benzema's shock exit to Saudi Arabia.
Joselu will be unveiled as a new Real Madrid player on Tuesday at 11am at Real Madrid City.
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