Arsenal want transfer ‘at all costs’ with their target’s role at Real Madrid ‘declining’
Arsenal are desperate to bring in Real Madrid attacker Marco Asensio in the summer transfer window, according to reports.
The Gunners strengthened their squad today by completing the signing of Fabio Vieira from Porto and Mikel Arteta is reportedly looking to bring in a few more.
Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus and Leicester City midfielder Youri Tielemans have also been particularly heavily linked, while reports keep cropping up of interest in Asensio.
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The Real Madrid attacker only made 19 starts in La Liga over the past season but still managed to score ten times for Los Blancos in the league.
Asensio wants to be playing more matches and there have been rumours of him leaving for the Premier League this summer with one report suggesting Manchester United were in the lead for his signature.
However, Sport (via Sport Witness) claims that Arsenal ‘could bet more’ on Asensio than other interested clubs this summer with the Gunners ready to sign him ‘at all costs’.
Asensio, who has one year left on his deal at the Bernabeu, wants a wage increase from €4.4m a year to €7m but Real are currently only offering him a new contract on his existing terms.
The Spain international knows his role at Real Madrid is ‘declining’ and would like to get back to playing regularly so that he makes the plane to Qatar later this year for the 2022 World Cup.
Speaking recently about his future, Asensio told AS: “I have one more year in my contract yet here we are talking about me leaving Real Madrid. This is an important moment for me, I will not deny it.
“I am more mature and not only on the field, this is an important moment and I will have to make important decisions.
“Me and my family know that I have to keep growing and moving forward. I want to achieve important things in football and they help me do that.
“Considering how this season went and what I experienced during my career, it’s true that I want more, I’m hungry for more and I would retire if it wasn’t like this, but I have many more challenges to achieve.
“I want to be the best player I can become and that’s why I keep working. I think this season it paid off even though I probably didn’t play many minutes. I want to play more and contribute more to the team.
“I know what our coach thinks. He’s happy about my season and he trusts me, this is something he told me himself.
“It’s true that I didn’t have the time to think and consider many things because of the Champions League final and the celebrations, but when these next two weeks with the national team end, we will talk about it all.
“This is something that my agent is taking care of. When the upcoming games with Spain are over, we will have to think about it. I want to keep growing and I want to achieve more things.”
