Marco Asensio has not travelled on Espanyol’s mini-tour of Bolivia after undergoing tests on a hip problem and the 19-year-old Spain youth international is already focused on joining up with parent club Real Madrid for the pre-season. “My intention is to have a good pre-season with Madrid and stay there,” said Asensio, who enjoyed a successful loan spell with the Parakeets in 2015-16. “That’s my objective, but if I have to go out on loan again we’ll see.” Espanyol have already asked for first refusal on another loan deal for Asensio if he doesn’t feature in Zinedine Zidane’s plans for the upcoming campaign.

It is precisely the presence of the Frenchman at the helm of Real Madrid that is spurring on Asensio’s desire to fight for a place in the squad for next season. “It’s a very attractive prospect to play under Zidane. When I was a kid a used to watch him all the time and I’d like to learn from him.”

Asensio, who scored four goals and provided nine assists for Espanyol this season, is currently training with the senior Spain squad until Atlético and Real’s internationals join up with La Roja after the Champions League final. For Asensio, it was a “dream come true. I want to learn from all these great players and do my bit.”