Marco Asensio    20    Midfielder    Real Madrid    Spain

Skinny

There is some surprise that Marco Asensio is currently in the midst of “tearing it up” at Real Madrid; but that is mostly based on the fact that his arrival into their first team squad has come already.

Asensio is a wonderfully exciting player who was much sought after as a teenager. Real Madrid eventually won out to sign him and after finishing up his final season with Mallorca – and being a star of the second division – and looking at ease with top flight football with Espanyol last term, he has taken to Madrid like a duck to water.

Skillful and quick, most quotes about him from former coaches and managers generally focus on quickly he has been able to impress those around him. It only takes a few minutes watching Marco to understand he is a special player thanks to his sublime technique and eye for a pass.

Comfortable playing off the wing and drifting inside, or simply starting there – there is plenty to get excited about. Oh, did we mention that his Dutch mother named him after a certain Mister van Basten? Yeah, no pressure.

2016 has been…

After an impressive season with Espanyol that helped the team to finish a solid 13th in La Liga, we were apprehensive about how this season would start off as Asensio remained with the squad throughout pre-season. Marco had finished the campaign with a deserved call-up to the Spain senior squad and he made his international bow less than two weeks before the European Championships.

Real Madrid have a habit of loaning their players to lesser team or agreeing favourable buy-back clauses to ensure their prospects can play plenty of games elsewhere but as Asensio stuck around a fear built up that all of the good work from 2015/16 would be lost by him spending this term stuck on the bench.

Instead he has taken his chance to become a first team regular with both hands. A stunning goal in the UEFA Super Cup when other big names were still on their way back to fitness helped his cause, but he has gone on to back that up with a series of really impressive showings – and a hatful of goals.

Strikes on his Real Madrid debut in the league, cup and Champions League have ingratiated him quickly with the fans – as did his decision to turn away from a nailed-on move to Barcelona to join Los Blancos – and helped prove that there might just be some life in Real Madrid’s attack outside of the BBC trio.

What’s next?

Bale, Benzema and Cristiano remain the big three at Madrid and when faced with a crunch clash, there will be given the nod by Zinedine Zidane. Asensio, Alvaro Morata and Lucas Vasquez have all started 2016/17 better than they could have been hoped and there may soon be legitimate competition for places. For now they can play without pressure – as much as a Real Madrid plays without pressure anyway.

Marco is in now – his bright start has earned him a fair crack at making it in the Real Madrid first team – and he just needs to keep working from here. He’s only got Isco and James Rodriguez to worry about.

B    A really exciting player