Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have been linked with a move for Spanish winger Marco Asensio this summer.
The Reds are still hunting trophies to add to their Champions League and Premier League titles, won in recent years, and Asensio would certainly strengthen their offering. The 26-year-old is reported by HITC as having a £418m release clause in his contract but would likely cost much less, possibly as ‘little’ as £40m.
The Spain international has been offered a new deal by Madrid, thought to be worth around £7m per year, but he has yet to respond to the offer. That’s put Liverpool on high alert, along with North London outfit Arsenal, managed by another Spaniard, Mikel Arteta.
At just 26, Asensio could be judged to have his best years ahead of him, and that’s an attractive prospect for Klopp and fans on the Kop. They’ve been spoiled with success over the past couple of seasons, finally bagging their first Premier League title and adding to their already impressive collection of European trophies. Despite playing second fiddle to Manchester City for much of this season, the Reds are still in with a shout of snatching a second domestic title, as well as being ranked by Ladbrokes as second favourites for the Champions League, again behind Pep Guardiola’s City. With Sadio Mane, Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino all in good form, the thought of adding Asensio to their ranks must terrify their opponents.
This is perhaps one of the most impressive Liverpool transfer rumours currently doing the rounds, given the player’s pedigree. He began his career as a youth with Mallorca, progressing to their first team in 2013. Madrid paid just €3.9m (£3.2m) for his services in the summer of 2014, immediately loaning him back to his parent club. The following season he earned another loan, this time to Espanyol for the duration of the following campaign.
He returned to Madrid and had an immediate impact, bagging on his debut from thirty yards as his side defeated Sevilla in the European Super Cup. He’s never looked back, racking up 153 La Liga outings and 226 appearances for his side in total. He did miss much of the 2019/20 season with a torn ACL, but he’s bounced back strongly with 17 goals from his last 81 outings. He has represented his country 25 times, with a single goal to his name, coming in the 6-0 demolition of Croatia in the 2018/19 Nations League.
If he does move to Anfield, he will follow in a long line of talented Spanish players to play in front of the Kop. Fernando Torres was one who Liverpool fans will still recall fondly; he was a sensation on Merseyside before his big-money move to Chelsea, which prompted his decline. Pepe Reina has kept the fifth-highest number of clean sheets in Premier League history (134) and is still regarded as the finest Spanish keeper ever to grace England’s top flight.
If Asensio signs, then the benchmark must surely be Xabi Alonso, signed from Real Sociedad in 2004. He scored in their famous Champions League victory in 2005 and won the FA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. He made the switch from Liverpool to Madrid in 2009, spending six years at the Bernabeu, ironically the same number of seasons Asensio has been appearing regularly for his current club.