Van Nistelrooy Tried To Convince Marco Asensio To Play For Holland
REUTERS/Juan Medina
Real Madrid’s new talent Marco Asensio has taken Spanish football by storm since his debut, and with interests from all over the continent, he revealed how Man Utd legend Ruud van Nistelrooy once tried to convince him to choose Holland over the Spanish national team.
Since making his debut last season, the Spaniard has never failed to impress on the pitch, and made the most out of Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence to prove his worth.
Asensio went on to score 8 goals and assist 3 in just 14 starts across all competitions for the Galacticos. Apart from his goal scoring prowess, the midfielder’s involvement in the games has also been his standout quality.
Consequently, this attracted immense interests from clubs all over Europe who wanted to secure the services of the young prospect. Though there were whispers about a Real Madrid exit, boss Zinedine Zidane and club president Florentino Perez have insisted that the youngster will not be sold.
However, during an interview, the former Espanyol man revealed a rather bizarre story about how he was being persuaded to play for the Dutch national team by none other than former Real Madrid striker, Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Whilst appearing as a special guest on COPE’s ‘El Partidazo’ programme, he revealed: “Van Nistelrooy called me to convince me to choose to play for Holland. I was chatting to him for a while, then he passed me onto the national team coach who told me he wanted me at all costs. But I wasn’t in any doubt. I decided to play for Spain.”
The 21-year-old eventually decided to reject the offer and opted to play for Spain, just as he played for the Spanish U21 team. Though it seems like a long stretch, imagining Asensio playing for Holland sure is interesting.
Written by Ashish Sreejith 
Have had two addictions in life- playing football and watching football. Usually described as introverted but not when it comes to speaking and writing about the beautiful game of football.