The date is August 13, 2017. It’s a warm Sunday night, and even though it’s almost midnight, everyone can feel the heat and humidity of a Catalan summer. The sold-out, jam-packed Camp Nou is at capacity. When you pan down to the field, you’ll see a young man wheeling away in excitement while removing his blue Real Madrid jersey to reveal the name Asensio written on the back of the garment. Marco Asensio was already there.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Asensio had just returned from a loan stint at Espanyol a year earlier. He had thrived while playing with Gerard Moreno there. He went back to Real Madrid and outperformed everyone’s wildest hopes, emerging as the team’s most exciting kid.
The 2016–17 season began with him scoring on his Real Madrid LaLiga debut against Real Sociedad, and it concluded with him scoring once more, but this time in Cardiff against Juventus in the Champions League final. One of Los Blancos’ most promising players made a declaration of purpose with it, and the next year, he expanded on it.
struggling to go forward
Many Real Madrid players are familiar with this tale, but Asensio didn’t benefit much from Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure in 2018. It had first appeared as it may work. The next season, in his first three LaLiga games, he tallied five assists. In his fifth league appearance of that campaign, he scored.
The problem was that in the next 33 league games, he only contributed to three additional LaLiga goals. In reality, three of his six goals during the 2018–19 Copa del Rey season came against UD Melilla, a third-tier team.
It could have come at the wrong time for Asensio given the possibility to exert influence. He wasn’t the famished youngster out to prove a point anymore, but he also wasn’t quite ready to be the one to take charge either. For the wide forward, it was virtually a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It was the initial indication that Asensio would not take off as many had anticipated. Instead, Vinicius Junior was capturing the attention of the crowd when given the chance to shine. Although it would be cruel to argue that Asensio had previously been questioned, it is true to state that his inability to act now may very well spell his demise.
a disappointing return after a catastrophic injury
Asensio is not the first athlete to have an anterior cruciate ligament injury and then come back as a different player; he also won’t be the last. His game changed as a result of a slight loss of speed that made him stand out. It fell to 3.03 dribbles per 90 in 2021/22, from 5.13 in 2018/19. He was no longer the player who could cut through defenses and advance quickly.
However, being one of the few to benefit from a lengthened season in 2019–20, three goals and an assist in his first nine games back was still a rather outstanding performance. He alleviated the strain to assist in one goal and score another in only 16 minutes against Valencia after being introduced for the first time in over 12 months.
However, Asensio hasn’t fully followed through on his commitment since then. He had to reclaim his starting position after losing it, which was once all but guaranteed, since Vinicius, Rodrygo Gomes, and Eden Hazard had already joined.
Asensio was compelled to stop moving, while the rest of Real Madrid carried on. While others developed and moved up the preference ladder, Asensio found it difficult to reclaim his position.
incorrect fit
In a limited sense, Asensio appears to be back to his best this season. Despite his prolific goal scoring, Ancelotti only had him start 42% of the games this season.
The issue is that Asensio doesn’t appear to fit in anywhere with this Real Madrid team, which is concerning. He’s no longer the bright young thing, but neither is he a seasoned pro. He doesn’t exert much energy or pressure, but neither is his posture or movements distinctive enough to make them stand out.
He is a player who can help Real Madrid through a change in leadership, but Florentino Pérez is not willing to spend a fortune to keep him. And the plain, if unforgiving, fact is that he hasn’t lived up to the promise that brought him such high pay when he signed his most recent deal back in 2017.
He outperformed xG in this one season by more than he had in his whole career, scoring 12 goals from 7.92 xG.
The fact that his role has altered significantly is a big factor in this. In Asensio’s first two seasons with the first squad, he had more assists than goals. His statistics for goals and assists since joining Real Madrid
But his wage demands may be the area where he is most out of balance. His alleged demands of €7 million annually, or around €135,000 per week, do not appear to be excessive when compared to the larger footballing market. He has three LaLiga championships and three Champions League winners medals in his trophy cabinet, and he represents Spain internationally as his career nears its pinnacle.
Even yet, such remuneration does not correspond to Real Madrid’s pay scale. Pérez has repeatedly shown that he won’t break his own rules for anyone, as Sergio Ramos and others have recently discovered.
At Real Madrid, Asensio’s career has waned and disappeared. A player with exceptional technical skills was simply in the wrong position at the wrong time. He could more than makeup for his pay elsewhere. Instead, he discovers that Real Madrid won’t give him a new contract and that he has fallen to the third choice on the right-wing. Asensio has not failed Real Madrid—far from it—but he has undoubtedly fallen short of expectations.
