Marco Asensio won’t leave Real Madrid
Manchester United had high hopes of being able to steal away one of Real Madrid’s bright young attacking talents this summer. Unfortunately, Marco Asensio has no intentions of moving to England.
Instead, Asensio is determined to remain in Spain and fight for a place in Zinedine Zidane’s starting XI. That’s an admirable spirit from the 21-year-old Spaniard, but it’s going to be a tall task. He’ll need to develop quickly if he wants to displace talents like Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale or Isco.
Still, he deserves credit for earning 16 La Liga appearances for the club this summer. Unfortunately, his form in those matches has been pretty average. A Whoscored.com player rating average of just 6.80 isn’t good enough to keep him in the lineup. At his age there’s plenty of reason for optimism though.
In many ways, Asensio might be better off risking the move to Manchester United. Jose Mourinho isn’t the biggest fan of young attacking players, but his lineup isn’t full of world-class attacking midfielders. Asensio’s chances to beat out players like Juan Mata, Anthony Martial and Henrikh Mkhitaryan would certainly be better than the battle he faces in Spain.
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You can’t blame him for sticking with Real Madrid though. He’s had some measure of success under Zidane, and the club are regular contenders for all sorts of silverware. If he really wants to leave the comfort of his current club, he should seek out a landing spot that can definitely provide him regular first team starts.
Instead of a permanent move, don’t be surprised if Asensio seeks a high-profile loan move for the 2017-18 season. A year away from the bright lights of Madrid might allow him to really grow up. Playing a year for a Premier League club like Everton or Southampton could really allow him to return to Real Madrid ready to contend for a regular starting spot.
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At any rate, don’t look for Marco Asensio to ply his trade at Old Trafford next season. He has no interest in a move to Jose Mourinho’s club.