Real Madrid’s No 14 has a familiar face and a very familiar name. He does according to Jude Bellingham, anyway. Bellingham calls him Peter Crouch, in his passport he’s José Luis Mato Sanmartín, and his shirt reads Joselu. Yes, that Joselu. “That’s me,” he says smiling as he settles into a sofa at the Spanish national team training base: the former Stoke and Newcastle striker who has a better goals ratio than anyone in the selección and is banging them in for the biggest club on the planet.
Already the scorer of more in one season in Madrid than the three he had in the Premier League, Joselu has experienced a long journey and says he is better for it, though it might not always have felt that way. He is living moments now that are more special for those lived before, his success an example of perseverance, never losing hope. Besides, he insists, England was fun.
Born in Stuttgart and raised in Galicia, Joselu left home at 11, starting at Celta de Vigo before joining Madrid’s academy. He made his debut in May 2011, scoring from Cristiano Ronaldo’s pass within seconds of coming on, but didn’t play another league game for them until 2023 – eight clubs, three countries and 12 years later. He was two days off his 33rd birthday when he got his international first cap: three and a half minutes in he had scored twice. Seven months into his debut Champions League season, he is preparing for Tuesday’s quarter-final against Manchester City, is top of La Liga and is closing in on his first major club trophy.
Turning 34 last month, this was always Joselu’s dream, but he never imagined this. Nor did many in England. Half of his 68 Premier League games were as a substitute in teams that finished ninth, 10th and 13th. He encountered in Mark Hughes a coach who was unconvinced. And he admits there were hard times mentally. But if it would be easy to regret, tempting to fire off a vindicatory now what?!, instead there’s fondness. “I remember both clubs with affection,” Joselu says and, listening to him talk and laugh, to the enthusiasm and occasional English, he means it too.
“Those were good times,” he says, playing with the actual Peter Crouch and proving he is better than Lionel Messi: when he scored against Norwich in 2016, it was a cold, wet Wednesday night in Stoke, after all. “Nah,” Joselu laughs, “there’s only one Messi. But it is true that everyone hated playing at Stoke. It was a test. It was always windy – the corners are open. Boxing Day, freezing … no one wanted to come. That was a good year: we finished ninth, beat City and United and reached the [League] Cup semi-final, only losing on penalties at Anfield … I played with good footballers: Crouch, [Marko] Arnautovic, Jonny Walters …”
One story has Joselu telling the Stoke Sentinel that while Ronaldo was a “hero”, Walters was “superman”, although the look suggests it may not be entirely true. “I don’t remember saying that but it is true that I loved Jonny Walters. He fought, he was committed, physically he was a beast, he scored over a hundred goals. And Crouch was an incredible guy. Jude calls me Crouchy now because I’m a tall striker who likes a cross. Others followed Jude and it’s stuck. But he’s 2 metres tall, I’m only 1.92. Crouch was very funny and helped me a lot. Boy, I had good times with him.
“It was hard [to leave] because I had got to know everyone there but they were looking for a shift in style. I still follow Stoke. They just can’t quite get back to the Premier League. The players have gone but I have loads of friends there. I had people from Stoke at my wedding, people from Newcastle too.”
And how did they behave? Joselu cracks up. “Fine, fine … At 2am I shut the bar.”
And yet, denied continuity, Joselu scored only seven times in two seasons at Newcastle. Sitting here representing Spain, for whom he has almost as many in 293 competitive minutes at a goal every 53 minutes, those Premier League years feel a long way away. To have gone from there to Madrid, preparing to face City at the Santiago Bernabéu, feels almost surreal.
“When I left Newcastle, I signed for Alavés – an important club but not Newcastle’s level. I had four years [on his contract at Newcastle]. It would have been easy to say I’m not dropping down. I could have stayed, picked up my money, not played. But I wanted to compete, feel important, I had no problem going. That experience in England and three good seasons at Alavés, then Espanyol, helped me reach where I am now.”
Joselu got 11, 11 and 14 goals at Alavés, 17 for Espanyol and then last summer, after Karim Benzema’s departure and with Kylian Mbappé’s probable arrival a season away, he returned to Madrid on loan. His arrival alongside an Englishman handed a reminder of his Britannia adventure: Joselu and Bellingham somewhat like Crouchy and Jermain Defoe. “Jude’s different class. Physically, he’s incredible. He’s very humble, a great teammate. From the start, he tried to speak Spanish. He’s touched everyone’s hearts: he’s very special. I learned English when I was there and we speak a lot; I try to help.
“Jude can achieve everything he sets his mind to. He has the potential to be really important for England and Madrid for, pfff, as long as he wants. He gives us something extra, not just as a goalscorer. Everyone we face would rather take him out. Yet when he was out we kept winning. Madrid have a solution for every situation, a variety that’s important. Even within the same XI the manager can change things. [Carlo] Ancelotti sees things you didn’t. Minute 20: ‘You go here, you go there.’”
One of those solutions is him. Strikers are back in fashion: even Pep Guardiola has Erling Haaland. “We were always there, hidden away, and that figure has returned again: I’m making the most of that,” Joselu says. “Football evolves: if Guardiola played the same style five years, the results wouldn’t be as good. The magic of football is that things don’t stay the same.
“I consider myself a different sort of player, an alternative. No one in the squad has my profile. Sometimes a centre-forward is put on to ‘fix’ the centre-backs. Or you can deliver more crosses. We’ve won games from wide positions. That’s an important role, the coach tells me that.”
Joselu scored four, four and three in England. At Madrid, he has 14. “We have more of the ball, more attacks, but there’s a lot of pressure,” he says. “Michael Owen arrived as a Ballon d’Or winner and found it hard. You need your head to be right because one day you’re up here, the next you miss two chances and …”
Joselu’s hand drops. “The problem at Madrid is the repercussion. It’s very demanding, exposed. Score two for Madrid and it’s global. I’m at Madrid, with Spain, and it’s like it’s normal, but it’s not normal. Very few get to do this. Not everyone can be a footballer, in front of 80,000, the world watching. It’s not as easy as they think. ‘Madrid should do this’, ‘You should have scored that’. You don’t hear much in the stadium but if the game stops for a minute, you hear it all. It’s not fit to print. And you think: ‘Hang on …’
“But I think everything I’ve experienced, especially abroad, has helped me. I’d come to England from playing in Germany. It’s another country, another culture, and it gave me a lot. I learned. It has given me the tranquility, the calmness to say: ‘OK, today I missed a penalty but it doesn’t matter.’ The next training session, back at it. There are players who can’t get those things out of their heads.”
Would that have been you a few years ago? There is a deep breath. “In that last season at Newcastle, maybe,” Joselu admits. “I wasn’t playing. You get a chance and if you miss, maybe it’s three or four games before you play again. I don’t think I ever reached that point [of it sinking me] but there were bad moments. It’s inevitable.
“When I made my Spain debut, my wife cried with joy because of everything we had been through. You appreciate it even more when it takes so long. I’m not 20, there’s a career behind me. Cold, snow, rain. And now here we are. We’re home. My wife’s family is here in Madrid, close, our house is here. We had never had that.
“Physically I’m in one of my best moments of my career. I’ve just turned 34 but I don’t feel it. Fifteen years ago, no one would sign a 34-year-old but now you do: €30m, €40m, two-year contracts. You change habits, mature. Life changes. I have two children: you tuck them in at nine and go to bed yourself. You adapt to what your body asks of you. Reaching here at 33, 34, is not easy, and I’m not planning to stop now. I have a lot of football left in me.”
