- Liverpool have made a club-record bid for Real Madrid’s Marco Asensio
- The Reds have offered £131million for the Spain international
- Asensio, however, favours Chelsea, who are set to bid for him in the summer
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Liverpool have reportedly made a club-record bid of £131million to seal the transfer of Real Madrid attacking midfielder Marco Asensio, though he favours Chelsea.
According to Don Balon, Florentino Perez has an offer on the table from the Reds as they look for a big-money signing in attack to replace Philippe Coutinho after his January move to Barcelona.
Asensio has long looked one of the finest young players in Europe but is no longer a regular in Zinedine Zidane’s first-team in what has been a frustrating campaign all round at the Bernabeu.
Don Balon claim Asensio would rather join Chelsea and that the Blues are also set to come in with an offer for the 22-year-old in the summer transfer window.
It remains to be seen if the west Londoners would pay as much as Liverpool are supposedly offering, but this could make for an intriguing transfer battle in the coming months.
Asensio would surely be a hit in the Premier League if given the chance to play regularly for a top side, though he arguably looks more ideally suited to Liverpool than Chelsea at this moment in time.
The Merseyside giants play a stylish and expansive style under Jurgen Klopp, and look a club on the cup despite the blow of losing Coutinho this winter.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have been in disarray recently and various reports suggest it’s unlikely Antonio Conte will still be in charge next season.
The Telegraph, however, have linked former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique as a likely replacement for Conte, so Asensio could do well to continue his development under a Spanish manager who knows a thing or two about putting together more stylish attacking sides.
This would be a major statement signing by Liverpool if they pull it off, with their previous transfer record almost half the rumoured £131m bid – the £75m they reportedly forked out for Virgil van Dijk in January, according to BBC Sport.