Real Madrid right winger Marco Asensio has become arguably the most polarizing player on the team. Though the 26-year-old has scored the most goals of his career in LaLiga this season, finding the back of the net 10 times under Carlo Ancelotti, he has offered very little in the other aspects of his game.
Asensio, for example, has zero assists in LaLiga. He does not even average a dribble completed, key pass, or foul drawn per game in the competition. His Champions League statistics are abysmal and far worse than his main competitors on the right wing, Fede Valverde and Rodrygo Goes – despite the fact that both players are younger. Asensio has one goal and one assist but averages 0.1 key passes, 0.1 dribbles completed, and 0.0 fouls drawn in the Champions League.
Worse yet, his catalogue of matches in Europe’s premier competition include some of the worst individual performances by a Real Madrid player this season. The worst of the worst of them came in the second leg against PSG, in which he earned a 0.0 match rating.
Asensio is heading into the final year of his contract, and the verdict is simple. He will either renew on Real Madrid’s terms or will be sold for a profit, with Los Blancos hoping that interested parties will look at his goals and jaw-dropping highlight reel of longshots as opposed to all the missing finer details that make him expendable in the eyes of many Madridistas.
Marco Asensio likely won’t sign on Real Madrid’s terms
Only the Madridistas who have a personal affinity for Asensio or value his highlight-reel goals vehemently want him to stay. The rest are either OK with him being a squad player at the right price or desperately want him out and replaced with a hungrier, younger, and higher-upside player – of which there are several options, with Peter Federico being an underrated one.
For the Madridistas desperate to get rid of Asensio, they seem more likely to get their way than not. And that’s because Asensio did something very interesting that would make it seem as if he is prepared to leave Real Madrid.
He hired Jorge Mendes as his agent. Mendes is one of football’s premier agents, representing a wide array of high-profile clients, with none bigger than Real Madrid legend Cristiano Ronaldo.
A player in the midst of contract extension discussions and a 10-goal season does not hire a superagent in order to negotiate the kind of team-friendly deal Real Madrid seems to be putting on the table to keep Asensio.
No, a player hires someone like Mendes to negotiate the best deal possible and put out feelers to other clubs, using their connections and weight to make something happen so that player gets the best sporting and financial deal possible.
There seem to be people at Valdebebas who like Asensio and would want him around in the squad due to his game-changing ability off the bench with that sweet left foot of his. But would anyone at Real want to overpay for Asensio or meet his demands? Would they want to get in a bidding war with a club from Serie A or the Premier League willing to offer Asensio bigger wages?
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That is doubtful. And so the appointment of Mendes as Asensio’s agent is a good indication that Los Merengues and the former Champions League hero are headed for a parting of ways at some point in the summer 2022 transfer window.