Real Madrid will ask Marco Asensio for a definitive answer on his future plans early next week — with Arsenal and Manchester United ready to firm up their interest in the player.
Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed the attacking midfielder is looking to leave the Bernabeu and, once his side’s La Liga clash with Espanyol has been dealt with on Sunday, he wants Asensio’s situation fully wrapped up.
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 Arsenal are in the box seat to land him.
The club let winger Nicolas Pepe join Nice on a season-long loan last week. But there is interest as well from United if there are any hitches in their bid to land Ajax winger Anthony with the player’s agents pushing hard to get him to a Premier League club. Tottenham have also shown an interest in signing the player this summer, although that interest is now understood to have cooled.
Asensio’s deal with Real ends in 11 months and he has refused to sign a new deal. The Spanish giants know this is their last chance to get a significant fee for him and have put a £23.5million price tag on his shoulders. Spain international Asensio wants more game time than he has been getting ahead of the World Cup but Ancelotti has been unable to give him any guarantees.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta claimed the decision to let Pepe leave on loan was in the best interests of all parties and steps are in place to replace him, with Asensio understood to be high on the list of targets. Arteta said: "If we can implement the plan that we have, we will try to do that. In the plan, that [Pepe’s loan move] was something that could happen - now it’s a reality and we’ve been preparing the last two months in order to achieve what we want. Whether that’s possible or not, we will see.
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"He needed minutes, he’s been craving for minutes, He talked to me a lot about it, I could not guarantee it right now, what he was looking for. And at some stage if you extend that period for too long, frustration comes in and the level of performance won’t be what we want so we decided it was the best thing to do.
"It’s been three years since he joined the club and he’s had some very good moments and some where he hasn’t contributed that much to the team in terms of minutes, and we have decided that for every party it was the best decision to allow him to go. He needs minutes and needs to play football, and was really adamant to do that, and we decided it was the best thing for everybody.
"Obviously he’s not responsible for the price that a club pays for him. He tried everything, his attitude and the way he is is just phenomenal. You just have to meet the person and you will love him for the way he is. In terms of the decision we have to make on the pitch and what we have to select, we have made other decisions and obviously that has had an impact in terms of the chances he’s had to show his quality."
