Tottenham are plotting a bid to sign Real Madrid midfielder Marco Asensio, according to El Confidencial.
The Spanish news outlet claims that Spurs’ offer is likely to “exceed” £88.3million, but the North London club has already been told that Asensio, 23, is not for sale by Real Madrid, who want his £618million release clause to be met to trigger a move.
However it is understood that the La Liga giants would consider offloading the Spain international if they were able to sign Kylian Mbappe or Neymar in the summer transfer window.
Good move for Tottenham?
Asensio has been in and out of the Real first team this season and only started 19 times in La Liga, however he is clearly a player with a lot of potential and one that would be needed in North London if Christian Eriksen was to move on in the summer.
Across all competitions this term, the Spanish attacking midfielder made 44 appearances, scored six goals and supplied seven assists.
Those stats do not look amazing but no one at the Bernabeu has stood out this season and Asensio is definitely still a player that would walk straight into Tottenham’s starting line-up and offer an improvement.
This is Futbol rating 8/10
Likely to happen?
Whether or not Tottenham can sign Asensio seems to hinge on if Real Madrid can sign Mbappe or Neymar.
It would spark quite the stir if either of those were to swap Paris Saint-Germain for Madrid, especially ex-Barcelona star Neymar.
At the moment it does not seem likely but the summer has only just started and a lot can happen before next season kicks off.
This is Futbol rating 3/10