Champions League hero Joselu has left Real Madrid for Qatari side Al Gharafa.
Madrid triggered their option to buy the Spain international, who is with the squad at Euro 2024, from Espanyol yesterday and then immediately sold him for a fee reported to be €1.5million.
The 34-year-old scored 18 goals in all competitions last season despite being utilised in a back-up role by coach Carlo Ancelotti.
His finest moment came against Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of the Champions League. With Madrid trailing 3-2 on aggregate in the 88th-minute of the return game at the Bernabeu, Joselu scored twice in dramatic fashion to send his team to Wembley, where they beat Borussia Dortmund in the final.
🛫 From Madrid to Al Gharafa 💛
Officially… @JoseluMato9 , the Spanish international, joins Cheetahs 🐆 pic.twitter.com/acmd97t9g5
— AL GHARAFA SC | نادي الغرافة (@ALGHARAFACLUB) June 28, 2024
In a parting statement, Joselu wrote on the club website: “Thank you.
“It is the best word and the most suitable to express everything I feel at this moment, in which emotion and nerves barely allow me to write.
“Thank you Real Madrid for everything you have made me feel throughout my life. Outside and inside. Inside and outside.
“Thank you for what you taught me as a kid; thank you for giving me so many examples of greatness and humility at the same time.
“Thank you for keeping my dream alive and for making it come true.”
