{
  "id": 18728890,
  "title": "Real Madrid summer signing came close to joining Valencia twice in his career – report",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/07/real-madrid-summer-signing-came-close-to-joining-valencia-twice-in",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-11-07T14:24:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/real-madrid-summer-signing-came-142400265.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Real Madrid's summer signing, Carlos Espi, nearly joined Valencia twice during his youth career, according to a recent report. The Spanish striker first joined UD Alzira from UE Tavernes, where he displayed his goal-scoring ability from an early age. When he started scoring consistently, Alzira and Valencia organized a friendly for their youth players, with Espi participating in the game. However, Valencia was not impressed with Espi's performance and did not show interest in signing him. In 2022, Levante made a bid for Espi, and Rafa Asensio, Alzira's sporting director, pursued the negotiations. Levante insisted on retaining a percentage of any future transfer fee, which Valencia initially refused. As the negotiations dragged on, Valencia emerged as another potential suitor for Espi. The young striker even traveled to Paterna to try again, but Valencia still did not see him as a fit for their plans. Ultimately, Levante accepted Alzira's terms, securing a 10% return on any future sale from Espi, which amounted to €2.5 million when he joined Real Madrid this summer. Tonight, Espi could potentially make his debut for Valencia at the Mestalla stadium, which might have been his home ground if his transfer history had unfolded differently.",
  "summary": "Real Madrid are set to take on Valencia later today, barely rested after their win in Greece over AEK Athens.There is, in that sense, a good chance the manager will consider rotations across the field...",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}