Marco Asensio’s stay at Real Madrid may expire: January 2023. Mallorcan Island’s erratic performances since a knee injury and lack of commitment as a white footballer have at times kept his name not on the renewal agenda for future seasons
Asensio once again put himself in the media spotlight for his incendiary remarks in an interview with Cadena COPE. In this conversation, he was asked if he would play for the eternal rival FC Barcelona. Neither short nor lazy, Marco Asensio uttered some words that angered a certain sector of Real Madrid: “I didn’t appreciate him or think of him. I can’t give you an answer”
This answer directly contradicts the words of one of his colleagues, Federico Valverde, who asked her the same question. The Uruguayan midfielder did not hesitate to state that he would “never play” for Barcelona “out of respect for Madrid, the shield that nourishes me and the values they taught me at Real Madrid.” The strength of this statement was absent from Asensio’s response, which does not close the door on the Catalan team
However, there are other possibilities for Asensio, as the Mallorca player himself admitted in an interview with COPE. Although there is no evidence of teams showing an interest in the Spanish winger, there are several candidates in Europe who could make a good bid for Marco Asensio
Next stop: Old Trafford
The first is Manchester United. The Red Devils are in the process of renewal, with Eric ten Hag wanting to bring back the competitive edge the club had when they were coached by Sir Alex Ferguson. Among these re-establishment plans, the end of the Balearic could be entered as a winter reinforcement
Despite the arrival of Anthony as one of the new gems of Old Trafford, the English team did not rule out the race for the services of the Real Madrid player
They came close to doing so this summer. In addition to taking Casemiro for the sum of eighty million euros, Asensio could have traveled on the same flight for thirty million euros
The process was not completed despite the insistence of Jorge Mendes: Marco Asensio himself stopped the transfer. One of the main reasons was the lack of incentive that gave him not to play in the Champions League, a competition in which the Balearic winger still wants to participate
From white to red and black
AC Milan was one of the other clubs with which Asensio was closely linked in last summer’s market. Although things have apparently calmed down, all the media reports that the Rossoneri are the best to take on Mallorcan’s services
After many years away from the European major tournament, Milan returned to the Champions League to stay alongside Ibrahim Diaz and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, so that Asensio could put together an amazing triple spear attack with them and advance further in his game with Europe
The latest information indicates that Milan would like to take advantage of the fact that Asensio became free in January 2023 to be transferred as a free agent and thus avoid paying a transfer fee to Real Madrid
In this way, the red and black will keep their accounts in good shape and will have the signing of Charles de Kitleri this summer, and Marco Asensio as a free agent to join their ranks in the second half of the season
An old acquaintance
Another club returning to the Champions League is Tottenham Hotspur. Asensio’s history with Tottenham is longer than it may seem at first glance, since the north London club tried to acquire the services of the Balearic winger for more than three years
Already in 2019, when Mauricio Pochettino was still his coach, the English team considered the option of merging the winger. Real Madrid’s response was clear: Asensio has no alternative, and will be left only to those who pay the 700 million euro termination clause
This interest from the London team continued through 2020 and 2021, when Asensio received an exciting offer, which he also turned down. At the time, he believed he could win Carlo Ancelotti’s confidence by putting in a good level during the first half of the season. Since going to the round of 16 against Paris Saint-Germain, everything has collapsed
The main reason why Asensio could be a key player at Tottenham is his versatility and because they still consider him to be able to offer interesting options in attack along with two real goal-scoring mechanisms: Harry Kane and Hong Min Son
It is these three teams that could offer Marco Asensio the most options if he finally comes out with a message of freedom from Real Madrid, but other clubs such as Inter Milan or Juventus de Turin, long-time suitors of the Balearic wing, cannot be ruled out
