Paris Saint-Germain confirm Marco Asensio signing

Paris Saint-Germain have confirmed the signing of Spanish attacker Marco Asensio following his departure from Real Madrid.

The 27-year-old joins the club on a free transfer and has penned a three-year deal with the French champions until the end of the 2025-26 campaign.

Asensio becomes Les Parisiens' second signing of the Luis Enrique era after Slovakian centre-back Milan Skriniar, whose arrival from Inter Milan was announced on Thursday morning.

"It's a privilege to be part of this great club. I'm looking forward to joining my new teammates and working with them to achieve some great goals," Asensio told the official PSG website.

The former Mallorca youngster struggled to earn regular starts over Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Federico Valverde last season, and his future had been called into question for some time.

© Reuters

Multiple Premier League clubs were said to have been keeping a close eye on Asensio's situation, while Italian giants Juventus and AC Milan were also credited with an interest.

However, the attacker has committed the next three years of his career to PSG, having ended a successful eight-year stay at Real Madrid since departing Mallorca in 2015.

Asensio produced 61 goals and 32 assists in 286 matches for Los Blancos across all competitions, winning a whopping 17 major honours, including three Champions League titles, three La Liga crowns, four Club World Cups, three UEFA Super Cups, one Copa del Rey and three Supercopa de Espana titles.

The 27-year-old came up with a respectable 12 goals and eight assists in 51 appearances during the 2022-23 season, including nine goals and six assists from 31 La Liga games, but he started just 15 times in the Spanish top flight.

In addition, Asensio featured from the first whistle just twice in the Champions League, playing a mere 66 minutes in total across Real Madrid's six knockout matches.

© Reuters

Asensio reunites with Enrique following their stint together with the Spain national team, where the former was left out of Enrique's Euro 2020 squad following an injury-hit season.

However, Asensio forced his way back into Enrique's good books prior to the 2022 World Cup and scored one goal in four games in Qatar, as La Roja went out in the last 16 to Morocco.

The ex-Real Madrid man arrives in Paris in the wake of Lionel Messi's exit on a free transfer, while Kylian Mbappe's next career move is still the subject of much debate.

The Frenchman could become a free agent next year after refusing to take up the one-year extension option in his contract, but PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has insisted that he will not be allowed to leave for nothing.

Following the arrivals of Skriniar and Asensio, PSG are also expected to confirm the signing of Manuel Ugarte from Sporting Lisbon in due course.