"It was like a film": Espy's father reveals the behind-the-scenes of the crazy hours with Real Madrid | Goal.com

Veröffentlicht am 31 Jul 2026 | Lesezeit: 2 Minuten

"It was as if we were living inside a movie script." With those words, Juanjo Espai, father of Real Madrid's new striker Carlos Espai, captured the whirlwind hours that turned his son's life upside down. In a single day, Carlos went from training with Levante to signing his contract with Los Blancos.

Juanjo Espai laid bare the extraordinary moments his family lived through in the final hours before the move to Real Madrid went through, a deal he called "surprising" even to those closest to him.

Speaking to Spanish radio station "Cadena SER", Espai explained that his son had trained yesterday morning with Levante while his agents negotiated a switch to Brighton. Then everything changed within hours, and the transfer to the Spanish club was done.

Espai senior said: "What my son went through was like a scene from a film. As soon as we arrived at Valdebebas to sign the contract, we were quickly informed that the coach José Mourinho wanted to meet us and welcome us."

He went on, describing the meeting itself: "Mourinho arrived and was very friendly with us all. Then he grabbed Carlos by the collar, led him into his office and said: this one is mine. He sat with him for a while, explained his role in the team, and told him precisely what he needed from him."

In another interview, this time with "Cope Valencia", Juanjo shared a detail that revealed just how tense the deal became: "Carlos was calmly having dinner with Emilio Butragueño at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, waiting for things to be settled so he could sign. This is not something normal. In the end things went well. He made a real step up."

The hardest part for him personally? Keeping the secret. He called it "awful". As he put it: "Hiding the matter and not being able to talk about it was exhausting. Even my mother, Carlos's grandmother, and my brother knew nothing. I couldn't tell anyone."

For the young striker arriving from Valencia, the move to Real Madrid is the chance of a lifetime. His father summed up that first day at Valdebebas in one word: "unbelievable".

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