Real Madrid MARCA invites young midfielder round for a chat

Now is the time to start talking about Marcos Llorente as a true candidate for a place in Real Madrid's long-term midfield.

Excelling in his loan spell at Alaves, and with his first-team debut already in the bag, MARCA spoke with the 21-year-old, who offered 10 key statements about his career to date.

"Zidane wanted me to stay"

"We spoke to Zidane and his idea was for me to stay, but later we met with him, [director general] Jose Angel Sanchez, and my family where we decided it was best to go and play as much as possible and try for the first-team next season."

"I was afraid of leaving"

"It was huge, leaving Madrid. My new [Alaves] teammates welcomed me very well and slowly I got to know them and now I'm enjoying the great team we have. It was a difficult decision and I was afraid about how it might turn out, but it was the right one."

"My dream is to win at the Bernabeu"

"My feedback so far is that I'm doing okay, nothing more. Now I don't think about it, it's the future and what will happen, will happen, I'm in Alaves at the moment but my dream is to win in Madrid and I'll fight for that my whole life."

"I base my game on Xabi Alonso"

"When I trained with the first-team I focused a lot on Casemiro and Toni Kroos, but I've always noticed Xabi Alonso. I like to play ahead of the backline, using the ball, and helping the defence. My uncle [agent Julio Llorente] told me to learn from Alonso."

"Ruben Yanez thanked me for beating Barcelona"

"Of course, that victory was better for being a Madridista, across all age groups it's the game to win. Ruben Yanez thanked me and all the homegrown players, Lucas Vazquez, Denis Cheryshev, have a great relationship. Winning at the Camp Nou gives you a lot of strength and fight even though we suffered a lot late on. The team did a tremendous job."

"I was a skinny child who couldn't defend"

"Typically I didn't help the defence as I was more interested in attacking. Now, I'm happy to be amongst the best interceptors because I used to be too little and had defensive problems until I had a growth spurt. In the Juvenil and Castilla teams, I improved a lot defensively."

"Fernando Morientes gave me my first start"

"I began in the Juvenil B team, with Fernando Morientes as my coach. Early on in that year I barely played, so I worked on my strength and from the fifth or sixth game I was never dropped."

"I trained in forests with my father

"[Former Real Madrid player and Marcos' father, Paco Llorente] was a little crazy in his training, then he told me I should join him and where we lived there was a pine forest, so every morning we ran through it."

"My uncle doesn't like my hair"

"My family is full of athletes, so at home I was taught to win way before I joined Madrid. Especially with my grandfather [ex-Real forward Roman Grosso]. However, my father and uncle always say they don't like my hair, but I'm used to it."

"Gento tells me to be humble"

"I'm proud that Gento is my great uncle. He always tells me about humility and work, When I was younger, Gento and my father showed me around the Bernabeu."