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Real Madrid star Marco Asensio was among the high-profile stars who were linked with French giants Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) during the recently-concluded January transfer window.
The Spanish forward has featured sparingly under manager Carlo Ancelotti this season. He has been limited to just 495 minutes of football action in La Liga this season despite making 15 appearances.
Given that Asensio's contract with Real Madrid expires this summer, there has been much uncertainty surrounding his long-term future. PSG are believed to be among a couple of clubs who indicated an interest in signing the 27-year-old winger in recent times.
As per AS, the French giants even submitted a bid for Asensio during the January transfer window. The report went on to state that the offer was rejected as well.
However, Spanish journalist Tomas Gonzalez has now refused these claims, as it is believed that Real Madrid never received nor rejected an offer for the Spanish forward.
It remains to be seen whether Asensio will extend his contract at the Santiago Bernabeu beyond the 2022-23 football campaign and he could become a free agent in the summer.
The forward has spent nine years at Real Madrid since joining from Mallorca in 2014. He has scored 53 goals and registered 29 assists in 261 appearances.
Ancelotti speaks on Asensio's missed penalty for Real Madrid against Real Mallorca
The Spanish giants suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat over the weekend to 10th-placed Mallorca in La Liga. The defeat came as a huge blow to Los Blancos' title challenge, as it currently leaves them eight points behind league leaders Barcelona.
However, Real Madrid could have at least secured a point during the game had Asensio converted a penalty in the second half.
The forward missed his spot kick against his former club and there were talks as to whether or not he was the right man to take the penalty.
Reacting to the 1-0 defeat, head coach Ancelotti spoke about how disappointing the result was for his team. He also cleared up who was the designated spot kick taker and said (via Managing Madrid):
“It’s a loss that hurts a lot but we expected the game to be like this, difficult with lots of fouls and interruptions. We prepared for a game like this. We suffered because of the early goal conceded. Then, the missed penalty obviously affected the final result too."
He continued:
“I picked the taker because Benzema, Modrić and Kroos were all off the pitch at that point. It was between Asensio and Rodrygo and we thought that Rodrygo might be a little mentally affected from his miss in the World Cup."
