Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti admitted Marco Asensio may leave the club in the closing days of the summer transfer window amid interest from Manchester United and Arsenal.
The 26-year-old has joined Jorge Mendes’s Gestifute agency and a representative is on standby to talk to the Gunners in London, with sources close to the player suggesting the North London side are in the box seat to land him.
However, United are also monitoring the situation having completed the £59m signing of Casemiro from Los Blancos and have been offered the chance to do a deal for the Spanish forward, which could be a stand-by deal in case their pursuit of Ajax forward Antony does not come to fruition.
Ancelotti has now admitted that, while his preference for Asensio is that he remains part of his squad, the club would not stand in his way should he wish to leave: "I don't know anything new about Asensio, only that he is assessing his situation. On September 2 everything will be clarified and if he stays he will be an important player and I will be delighted, because last year he contributed a lot to the team and this season he would too."
When pressed if Madrid would consider replacing Asensio, Ancelotti responded: "We have a squad in which we have a lot of resources. If Marco leaves we're not going to sign anyone because we don't need them."
A report in Marca earlier this summer outlined how Asensio – into the final year of his contract in the Spanish capital – will not have his current deal renewed at the club and there is no plan to increase his game-time this season. There is no push for the Spain international to leave the club but they would not stand in his way due to his precarious situation.
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Last season, Asensio admitted that he was less than happy with his lack of continuity at the club. He then gave an update on his future in June in which he admitted he wanted to play more and that this was an "important moment for an important decision" over his future.
Asensio subsequently said: "I have one year left on my contract and I have three possibilities, after the international break we will talk." The three future options to which he refers are the following: renew his contract, stay at Real Madrid until the summer of 2023 and then leave for free at the end of the contract or seek an exit this summer for a fee.
Asensio joined Madrid in 2014 but spent his first two seasons at the club on loan spells at Mallorca and Espanyol, meaning that he was not a member of the first-team squad in Ancelotti’s first spell in the dugout. He was somewhat of a young prodigy at Madrid and he bagged double figures in his first two full seasons with the club between 2016 and 2018. He suffered a dip in form the following campaign before suffering a LCL knee ligament injury in summer 2019 - which ruled him out of action for a year.
