Sticking a hat-trick past a Barcelona youth team will get you noticed and Mateo Joseph had his pick of Europe’s elite when he decided on Leeds United last year.
The 18-year-old’s transfer to Elland Road may have been finalised when the window opened last month, but it’s been in the offing for some time.
Victor Orta and his recruitment team have been looking at the striker for a while and saw enough in his profile to know he was the next one they wanted on the Thorp Arch conveyor belt.
In seeing he had what they needed on the field, Joseph’s expiring Espanyol contract was just the oil they needed to get the wheels turning on negotiations.
Sources close to Espanyol suggest Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Liverpool had all been keen on Joseph across the past 12 months.
Carlos Fanlo, an Espanyol writer at Spanish title La Grada, watched Joseph closely during his time with the La Liga outfit.
He said it became clear at the start of this season the teenager would not sign new terms in the knowledge he was wanted elsewhere.
“Mateo was a player who was trusted a lot for the future,” he told LeedsLive. “It was thought he could become a first-team player in a few years, but the renewal was offered to him and he refused it.
“He had very high demands Espanyol were not willing to meet and that left him in the stands for the entire first round [of the season].
“It’s something Juvenil A (Espanyol’s youth team) has noticed and they have missed a goalscorer with his characteristics.
“Since he rejected the renewal offer, it was known he would leave, so his departure was not a surprise at all.”
Joseph has scored goals throughout his teens, first with his boyhood side Racing de Santander, where more than 40 goals in 2017/18 clinched his switch to Espanyol.
Another 44 goals in 56 games followed with the Catalan side. Fanlo describes him as a killer in the box, but with work to do on his defensive game.
“Mateo is a centre forward who can fall to the wings,” he said. “He is tall and strong, with power and, above all, a lot of goals.
“He is a player who reads football very well and knows how to find spaces, he is very intelligent without the ball and knows where to position himself at all times.
“He is a killer, but on the other hand, in defensive tasks, he costs more.”
Joseph was training on his own for much of this season before arriving in West Yorkshire because of the contract stand-off with Espanyol.
He will need time to get up to speed, as under-23 boss Mark Jackson has said, but when he does eventually build up a head of steam hopes will be high he can make his mark with Leeds.
