When Cristiano Ronaldo left Real Madrid for Juventus in the summer, club president Florentino Pérez chose to not sign a Galáctico replacement. Instead, he left Julen Lopetegui to trust Marco Asensio and fit-again Gareth Bale alongside Karim Benzema, but the Spaniard has flattered to deceive.
The 22-year-old even dyed the tips of his hair blonde earlier this season in an attempt to imitate the Portuguese, in the absence of a superstar signing, but one La Liga goal this season so far is not good enough.
In an interview with MARCA, he admitted: “It is not for me to lead from the front. There are other players that have been at the club for longer, they are more experienced, have a higher status and it is down to them.”
Teenager Vinícius Júnior was signed to large fanfare from Flamengo of Brazil, and lauded as the long-term replacement for Ronaldo. The present, whilst the youngster honed his skills with Castilla, was supposed to be Asensio but the Brazilian looks set to be a regular under Santiago Solari.
Whilst youngsters Sergio Reguilón, Federico Valverde and the like are also making their breakthroughs, Asensio has to become a senior player – he has played over 100 games in the white of Real, after all.
In November 2014, he was signed from Real Mallorca before joining RCD Espanyol on loan for the 2015-16 season – he was projected to have a bright future at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium from the outset.
His first competitive appearance on his return to Spain’s capital was the 2016 UEFA Super Cup final against Sevilla – he scored a stunning 25-yard effort as Real ran out 3-2 winners.
He played 23 times during the season, and struck in the 2017 UEFA Champions League final win against Juventus.
He scored his first goal of the 2017-18 campaign with a 25-yard strike against Barcelona at the Camp Nou in the first leg of the Supercopa de España, before netting an equally-as-impressive effort in the return leg as Zinedine Zidane’s side ran out 5-1 aggregate winners.
After signing a contract extension until 2023 last season, and with the departure of five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo, Lopetegui needed him to make the transition from a superstar in waiting to a player with responsibilities on his shoulders – he did not.
He, and Real, started the season well. Assists against Getafe and CD Leganés as well as a goal against Espanyol came during a decent start to the campaign, but he was found wanting during a spell of five winless games in which Marcelo’s consolation against Levante avoided a club-record goal drought.
This means that he has not scored since the 22 of September, and his last assist came three weeks before.
18-year-old Vinícius scored four goals for Castilla under Solari, including a free-kick against Celta Vigo B, and has moved into the first-team squad under the Argentine.
He found the net against Real Valladolid with a deflected effort to put Los Blancos ahead after 83 minutes. Despite the fortuitousness of the goal, he showed his ability to change a game at a moment’s notice – Asensio has previously been able to, but has struggled this season.
This time last year, he had already scored four La Liga goals, including a brace against Valencia.
This campaign, he has made less key passes (1.2) per 90 minutes compared to last season (1.6), maintained a lower pass success percentage by over 2% less at 88.1% and been caught offside 0.3 more times per game.
The changes are subtle, but become the difference between one point and three when games are deadlocked at 0-0. Perhaps, the promotion of Vinícius will encourage him to deliver – Real fans, and Solari, will certainly hope so; he is definitely capable.