Arsenal and Liverpool offering star midfielder 50% more in wages than Real Madrid's current proposal

Interest in Real Madrid midfielder Marco Asensio is heating up. Both Liverpool and Arsenal are reportedly prepared to offer 50% more than what the player is currently earning at Los Blancos.

Asensio, 26, joined Real Madrid from Mallorca in 2014 for £3.51 million, and has registered 46 goals and 23 assists in 221 appearances for the La Liga giants. The Spain international's contract at the Santiago Bernabeu runs till June 2023, and he is currently on £117,000-per-week wages.

Eduardo Inda (via Super Deporte) has said that the 26-year-old is considering a move to the Premier League. Either Liverpool or Arsenal could be his next destination.

As per the aforementioned report, Real Madrid are not keen on offering higher wages to the 26-year-old, with the club and Asensio locked in tense contract negotiations. The midfielder will be able to negotiate a pre-contract with another club in January 2023 ahead of his potential departure in June of that year.

He had a promising start to life with the first team. Asensio was touted as a potential future 'Galactico' at the club, but he soon went off the boil, finding himself in and out of the side.

He has made 28 appearances across competitions for Los Blancos this season, scoring nine times and assisting once.

Where would Real Madrid's Asensio fit best - Liverpool or Arsenal?

Asensio would be familiar with Maritn Odegaard. (in pic), having played with him at Real Madrid.

Both Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta's sides have offered Asensio interesting deals in case he leaves Real Madrid next summer.

The winger, who enjoys cutting inside and has also enjoyed success playing centrally behind a lone striker, has tremendous vision and intelligence to match. If it weren't for injury woes, we might have been talking about him as one of Spain's top talents.

Asensio is the type of midfielder who could suit Klopp, as he shares similar attributes to Liverpool's star man Mohammed Salah. Both players cut inside and have an eye for goal. However, Asensio doesn't share the same goalscoring prowess Salah has.

Arsenal, meanwhile, are used to targeting fringe Real Madrid players. That was the case with current Gunners midfielders Martin Odegaard and Dani Ceballos, with the latter underwhelming during his loan spell at the Emirates.

Arteta is renowned for developing players like Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe. Asensio could flourish in north London, as he offers a different profile to the wingers they have at present.

Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Nicolas Pepe all use their speed and guile to rid defenders, so Asensio's vision could be hugely beneficial for Arteta's team.

About the author

Matthew is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who has been covering news, rumors and match reports for close to 3 years. Learning creative writing from University of Essex, he combined his skills and passion for football take up writing for the sport professionally.

Matthew always strives to go beyond a story and offer unique and lesser-known insights, while maintaining an unbiased tone in his articles. His reporting exploits at the company have helped him gain a humungous readership of 25 million, with one of his articles raking in a whopping 724,000 reads.

A Manchester United fan since childhood, Matthew admired Sir Alex Ferguson for his loyalty and brave coaching style. His favorite footballer is Thierry Henry, believing the Frenchman to be uniquely talented and charismatic. An ardent Three Lions fan, England's penalty shootout win over Colombia in 2018 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment of all time, and he believes that Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe will have a Ballon d’Or duopoly after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

He also follows his local EFL League Two clubs AFC Wimbledon and Sutton United, and spends his free time watching and writing about professional wrestling. He also likes to work out, watch movies and go for night outs.

Know More