Arsenal who spent more money than any other team in the 2021 summer transfer window had a €40 million bid for Real Madrid winger Marco Asensio rejected by the La Liga club. According to reports, the Spanish attacker was made available for sale by Real Madrid until Carlo Ancelotti convinced the player to stay put at the club.
Asensio’s progress at the Spanish capital has been stunted following the knee injury that he sustained in a pre-season friendly against Arsenal in July 2019 which forced him to miss 11 months of action.
He struggled to get regular football under former manager Zinedine Zidane in the Frenchman’s final season. It also led to Marco Asensio failing to make it to the Spain squad for Euro 2020.
Asensio’s situation at Real Madrid left the player pondering over whether he had a future at the club. In fact, multiple reports from Spain also claimed that Real Madrid were willing to offload Marco Asensio to raise transfer fees for new arrivals.
Over the summer, Asensio was linked with a number of European suitors likes Liverpool, Tottenham, and AC Milan. Even Arsenal, according to the player’s agent, Horacio Gaggioli were keen on his signature.
In a recent interview with Spanish radio station Cadena SER, Gaggioli explained that Arsenal put forward a €40 million bid in order to lure Asensio to the Emirates. However, Carlo Ancelotti, who took charge of Real Madrid in the summer, advised him to stay put at the club.
“A lot of clubs were interested in signing Asensio this summer. But Ancelotti told him that he counted on him to play through the centre of the field. He told him ‘I want you to stay, I know you are not a pure winger and that you need to play in the centre’. That was a good talk and it happened just a month ago,” said Asensio’s agent.
It now appears that Carlo Ancelotti’s decision to keep a hold of Asensio has paid off. The 25-year-old was given his first La Liga start of the season against Mallorca last week and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands, scoring a hat-trick in a 6-1 win for Real Madrid.
