Real Madrid striker Joselu Mato dominated the front pages this week for his brace in the Champions League semi-final, seeing Los Blancos to their sixth final in 11 years. It has at the very least distracted from his legal issues in recent weeks.
The 33-year-old moved on loan to Real Madrid last summer from relegated Espanyol, and have a €1.5m buy option on the Spanish international. Recently an extract of a court ruling revealed that Joselu had threatened former club Alaves with dropping his performance level if they exercised their right to extend his contract for a further year.
That allowed him to move on a free to Espanyol two summers ago, and now ex-Espanyol player and former head of their youth football programme Angel Morales has accused Joselu of blackmailing Los Pericos during his exit from the club too. Morales replied to a tweet noting that Joselu was on loan from Espanyol in Segunda, saying the following.
“Beyond the football debate, loaned would not be the ideal adjective. He is a player who blackmailed RCDE and got off the boat when he was needed most.”
Asked by the original tweeter Dani Nieto to what he was referring to, Morales replied, as captured by Marca.
“Yes, yes, but on loan. He left as many others have left, in good or poor fashion. The only clear thing is that the club gave in to his demands.”
“To his blackmail. And I better not continue,” he said finally, but later deleted those tweets.
It’s not exactly clear what Morales is referring to, and it would be unfair to Joselu to speculate, albeit according to a judge’s view, he does have history. Joselu could be seeking another exit from Espanyol this summer, if Real Madrid do not exercise their buy option – he has a further year left on his deal in Cornella.
