Marco Asensio has reportedly told Real Madrid he has an offer from Manchester United to move to the Premier League during the January transfer window, per Diario Gol (h/t Jack Otway of the Daily Express).
Diario writes: “Marco Asensio is not happy at Real Madrid… and his relationship with Zinedine Zidane is increasingly distant. Several strong teams in Europe are seriously considering going for Asensio. One of those teams is none other than Manchester United.”
The 21-year-old has fallen out of favour with Zinedine Zidane often preferring to pick the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema instead. Zidane has limited thhim to just nine starts in La Liga and five appearances in the UEFA Champions League.
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United have an obvious need for an attacker with Asensio’s quality. One of the main reasons Mourinho’s squad trails neighbours Manchester City by 11 points is not enough creativity and goals from the advanced areas of midfield. Lukaku seems to have lost his shooting boots, while Rashford and Martial look like an ill-suited starting pair.
The situation has been compounded by the manager’s decision to ditch Armenia international Henrikh Mkhitaryan. A star at Borussia Dortmund, Mkhitaryan has not even made the squad for United’s last four matches. BBC Sport’s Simon Stone reported “there has been a ‘breakdown of trust” between manager and player.
Asensio signed a new contract earlier this year until 2023. The Spanish source also revealed Real president Florentino Perez doesn’t want to lose Asensio, despite manager Zinedine Zidane being prepared to let the 21-year-old go.
Asensio would make sense as a replacement for Mkhitaryan – his ability to pick passes between the lines and score spectacular goals are enough to set a match afire.
Those qualities seemingly had Asensio set for stardom last season when he thrived both for Los Blancos and the Spain U21 team, helping his nation finish as runners-up in the summer’s UEFA European Under-21 Championship.
However, it is unlikely Bale, Griezmann (or Asensio) will be on their way to United next month.
