Nine things you didn't know about Marco Asensio

Van Basten

Asensio is named after the Milan and Netherlands legend.

Holland

The Real midfielder’s mother is Dutch (hence the Van Basten admiration) and last October Oranje fans started a petition with the hashtag #AsensioWillemseninOranje urging the Netherlands Football Federation to call up the player after the side’s disastrous European Qualifying campaign.

Spain

But Asensio had already debuted for La Roja after a successful season on loan at Espanyol, where he ended the campaign among the highest assist providers in La Liga. Vicente del Bosque call Asension up for the pre-Euros squad and he played an hour in a friendly against Bosnia.

European champion

Asensio has played for Spain at all junior levels from under-19 to under-21. With the under-19s he was part of the European Championship-winning side in 2015 alongside Borja Mayoral and Jesús Vallejo.

Del Bosque backing

The former Spain manager recently described Asensio as “the greatest talent in Spanish football.”

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Debut

Asensio made his first professional appearance at 17 years of age for Mallorca in Segunda División as a substitute against Recreativo. Five games later he was included in the starting line-up and played 56 times for the Balearic club, scoring seven goals.

Transfer

Real Madrid snapped up the promising youngster in December 2014 after his first full season with Mallorca for 3.5 million euros. The fee Manchester United paid for Paul Pogba would have bought the Premier League club 30 Asensios.

Barça interest

At the same time as Real were pursuing Asensio, Barcelona put in an offer of 1.5 million euros, which was rejected by Mallorca.

Espanyol

The same as Kiko Casilla, José Callejón and Lucas Vázquez, Asensio cut his teeth in an apprenticeship at Espanyol before returning to Real Madrid. During the 2015-16 season, only Leo Messi, Luis Suárez, Koke, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo provided more Liga assists.