Former Spain boss Vicente del Bosque has claimed that Real Madrid youngster Marco Asensio is "the biggest talent in Spain".
The 20-year-old joined Real Madrid from Mallorca in 2014, but has still not represented Los Blancos after a loan spell at his former club and a season-long loan at Espanyol last term.
It had been thought that Asensio would also spend the 2016-17 campaign out on loan, but his 10 assists and four goals in 34 La Liga appearances last season are believed to have convinced Zinedine Zidane to make the midfielder part of his first-team plans for the new season.
Asensio, who signed a six-year contract at Real Madrid in December 2014, made his Spain debut against Bosnia-Herzegovina before Euro 2016, and Del Bosque has revealed that he almost took the midfielder to France.
"We were about to take him to the Euros but in the end we decided not to because the competition was so big. He's the biggest talent in Spain. He has a lot of quality, but it's not my decision if he's in the Madrid first team," AS quotes Del Bosque as saying.
Asensio was given a second-half run-out as Real Madrid lost 3-1 to Paris Saint-Germain in the International Champions Cup on Wednesday night.
Matt Law
