Manchester United Transfer News: Marco Asensio Reportedly Reveals United Offer

Marco Asensio has told Real Madrid he has an offer to move to Manchester United during the January transfer window, per Fernando Rodrigo of Diario Gol (h/t Jack Otway of the Daily Express).

Rodrigo reported that United manager Jose Mourinho sees Asensio as a player who could help keep United's fading Premier League title challenge alive. The Spanish source also revealed Real president Florentino Perez doesn't want to lose Asensio despite manager Zinedine Zidane's willingness to letting the 21-year-old go.

Zidane hasn't started Asensio often this season, limiting the precocious talent to nine starts in La Liga and five appearances in the UEFA Champions League.

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Real may not be using him much, but United have an obvious need for an attacker of Asensio's quality. One of the main reasons Mourinho's team trail neighbours Manchester City by 11 points is their lack of creativity and goals from the advanced areas of midfield.

The situation has been compounded by the manager's decision to ditch Henrikh Mkhitaryan. A star at Borussia Dortmund, the Armenia international has not made the squad for United's past four matches. BBC Sport's Simon Stone reported "there has been a breakdown of trust" between the manager and player.

Asensio would make sense as a replacement for Mkhitaryan thanks to his ability to pick passes between the lines and score spectacular goals. Those qualities seemingly had Asensio set for stardom last season, when he thrived both for Los Blancos and the Spain U21 team, helping his nation finish as runners-up in the summer's UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Even though playing time has been difficult to come by, Asensio said in November he is willing to make the most of whatever opportunities Zidane gives him, per ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan.

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It's easy to believe Asensio would start more often in a United side needing more match-winners in the final third. Mkhitaryan is being overlooked, but Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford are both talented, although neither has progressed as quickly as Asensio.

Mourinho has said he is willing to add to his squad in January, according to Joe Short of the Daily Express. Landing Asensio would provide an instant boost to an attack short of ideas too often this season.