No playing time or offers for Real Madrid’s Marco Asensio

With barely two weeks left until the end of the summer transfer window, and by curious coincidence, six years to the day of his official presentation at Real Madrid, Marco Asensio has reached a dead end. The 26-year-old, who still has a year left on his contract with Madrid, is watching time goes by with no news about his future. Marco, who last season was the first team’s third top scorer with 12 goals in all competitions, has yet to make his debut this season - he didn’t even warm up in the UEFA Super Cup final against Eintracht on 10 August, and nor was he given an opportunity in the opening league game against Almería.

Asensio changed his agent (leaving Horacio Gaggioli to sign with Jorge Mendes) at the end of April with the hope of resolving his future. He had seen Valverde and Rodrygo edge ahead of him within the first team. But his new agent has yet to come up with an offer that satisfies both the club and the player. Ancelotti, fully aware of the situation, has preferred not to use him for the moment - at least until a solution is found But that is not going to be easy... Valverde has established in the starting XI, Rodrygo is the next option and while Hazard looked sharp against Almería, Asensio has now been relegated to third, or even fourth position in the squad. That is a very delicate situation for the player given that the World Cup is just three months away and he wants to be there with Spain.

Time to make a decision

Valverde’s meteoric rise (he was the only midfielder that Ancelotti did not replace against Almería) seems to have been the final nail in the coffin for Marco - the first Real Madrid player in history to score on his debut in four major competitions - LaLiga, Champions League, Copa del Rey and European Super Cup. He dazzled everyone during his first three seasons, but his progress was cut short after suffering a terrible stroke of bad fortune during the pre-season in 2019. During a friendly against Arsenal, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament and the external meniscus in his left knee left - an injury which practically kept him out for the whole season. The break due to the Coronavirus pandemic helped him to come back stronger - on his return in June 2020, it took him just a couple of minutes to score in the 3-0 win over Valencia. Curiously, he had come on to replace his Uruguayan team mate Valverde. Now, he barely has two weeks left to get out of the dilemma in which he finds himself - either renew with Madrid, leave to join another club or wait a year until he is a free agent... with the World Cup in between. It’s a conundrum which Marco has to resolve with Deadline Day drawing nearer...