Real Madrid to hold Marco Asensio contract talks after World Cup

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has confirmed that the club will hold talks with Marco Asensio regarding his contract situation after the World Cup.

Asensio is yet to start in any competition for Real so far this season but has made appearances off the bench in a number of games, scoring his most recent outing against Elche.

The 26-year-old, once tipped as a superstar of the future, has never managed to hold down a firm place as a starter. He usually starts around half of Real’s La Liga games in a given season to a maximum of just 21 during the 2020/21 campaign.

Asensio has seen the likes of Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Federico Valverde thrive this season and is seemingly no closer to making the breakthrough into the starting XI.

With a contract expiring at the end of this season and eligible to begin negotiating with other clubs in January, the issue of his future needs to be discussed sooner rather than later.

Ancelotti has now confirmed a timeframe for those vital talks to happen.

“We haven’t talked about the issue of Asensio’s contract. He has played little but when he does, he shows that he can do it,” the boss told AS this week. “He has been decisive and he will have more minutes in the future, and after the World Cup we will talk about his contractual position.”

Asensio played only sparingly for Spain since 2019 but has been named in each of the last two squads in June and September and so stands a reasonable chance of at least making the preliminary list for Luis Enrique’s World Cup selection.