imo he should stay, and Jese out for loan. i mean i do understand for Asensio it's better to play more, but still, he can be very useful this season. and if ZZ is ready to use him, i would love to see him with RM jersey already this full season.
I think the first people automatically off the bench are Isco (CM) and Morata (CF). This is simply based on their status, they would honestly be starters in most other teams and Zidane knows he has to give them the "first man up" treatment off the bench to keep them happy. I would include James in that group, because of his stature, but I get the vibe Zidane doesn't think he fits the formation. So, there is one remaining substitution for the following players: Vasquez, James, Kovacic, Llorente, Jese/Asensio. I don't like the odds of him playing in most games, outside of CWC/CDR or in the group stages of CL against lesser teams. In fact, if we include a CB, FB, and GK on the bench, there are only two seats on the bench for the above 5 players. So, many games he won't even make the bench, let along play.
Agree he should be loaned. We have Isco,Morata,James & Lucas as first bench options. Asensio is too good to be scooping for playtime. Leave that to Mr. Rapper Jese.
Del Bosque: "Asensio is Spain's most talented player" Del Bosque: “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 regarding the winger.
Appatently Krusty the Clown is trying to heap pressure on the club with this praise.... all while obsolving himself of blame for not bringing the kid to the Euros in the first place. Can you imagine? This butthurt clown, didn't think he was good enough to bring as a reserve, but he is indirectly saying the kid should be in Madrid's first team.... or else. Dummy
If that was the case, why add all the extra fluff? You can ignore the source (AS), the person in questions relationship with the club and Florentino and the other things he said in that quote. I won't
At this point I want Asensio to take Jese's spot as the first sub for our forwards (with James), and I'll loan Jese out or sell him with a buyback option. Asensio can fit well IMO in either wing if we decided to play with 4-4-2/4-5-1 too (our players do get injured often to allow us to play like that and we'll have plenty of matches to rest the starters), both us and Asensio will get more out of these situations than what we and Jese are getting and will get out of the current one.
Zidane on Asensio: "He is happy here and is showing that he wants to play, if he stays he knows what role he will have here. I am delighted with what he is doing."
1. Jese wasn't the first sub for our forwards last season, Vazquez was. 2. Morata will most likely be the first forward sub from now on, if he didn't get this assurance, he'd be at Juve/Chelsea 3. Jese played around 800 minutes last season in La Liga and around 300 in the CL. 1100 minutes is about 12 full matches, spent playing mostly in garbage time. This is not the kind of experience I want Asensio to have. I think it would be amazing to see him loaned for 1-2 years to a top squad in Germany/Spain, come back at 22 and start pushing Bale for his RF position. By that time, Vazquez will have moved on similar to Callejon, after doing great service to this team.
Especially when one of those spots is inhabited by Cristiano. I don't know man. I don't want to sell James, I like James..... but where does he even fit? If he doesn't throw a fit, I guess I should be happy with the depth. At least, if our thin midfield gets hit we'll always know we're covered in attack!
As for #2 it's possible, but I think Zizou will be cautious and may not often field all CFs he has and risk losing one or all of them/lack an option off the pitch, although I like the idea of Benzy-Morata partnership. ِI think your 1st & 3rd point could be related to each other. i.e. 1- Lucas had bigger impact when he was called on (despite not being playing much in the first half of the season as the 2nd one, and he didn't have impressive preseason as Jese) than Jese, which made Lucas deservedly IMO the 1st sub not Jese, so therefore we are getting more out of Lucas (possibly Asensio now?) than Jese, who I think even if he got the whole of Lucas' minutes this season he won't be that different from last season and he certainly won't reach the potential we hoped for. I understand that he isn't getting enough minutes, I read that even with the low numbers he didn't even finish a single 90 minutes of a game in the whole season. The question is: do you think it'll be that different this time? And if it will be, is it enough for his development considering his potential and that he spent 3 seasons with the 1st team now? Asensio is in different situation, at 21 he is younger, and will have more chances to develop & integrate in the team this season as we have a European Super Cup, CWC, Cop del Rey (if we don't pull a Cheryshev) in addition to the league & our expected far run in CL. Bale's injuries & Ronaldo's statement about resting more means opening more minutes for Asensio too. Having James in the bench can be a + point as we may need to not put too much pressure on Asensio if our forwards got a lengthy injury or badly timed one and we had to put him vs. Barca or SF of CL and expect him to bring an A performance. I prefer to slowly integrate him in the team and let him grow with the incredible players we have now.
I admit that I was pretty sure once before that one of Isco or James will leave, but as it seems both are staying, and despite that Lucas, Asensio, James may seem an overkill, I'll be selfish & want that depth considering the coming ban & our injuries record. And the pressure point I mentioned above. I still think James doesn't fit in our system but I can't be mad by having him on the bench if we didn't get Pogba. I hope by the end of the season James make me look back into this post and say: "not mad?" How stupid were you?".
If he does leave then we literally have made no sense in our movements and this sket will play out like some sort of bad fan fiction. He can't leave, if we aren't going to even make an effort to sign the only players actually available that could help or team (Pogba, Kyro).
My fear is the opposite, that we'll be ranting like madmen about how we weren't actually active toward the targets in the positions which needed depth. I'd love for James to magically turn into a B2B and have some sort of speed. All prayers answered with that lol.
I don't think those two are the only ones that can improve team. Pogba is probably the only one that could have stepped into the starting 11, but if we can add a young player to back up Casemiro, and sell James, we would both open up minutes for someone who looks like a star in the making plus add a lot more balance to the team.
With the amount of injuries BBC go through where we rarely see three of them playing together consistently, one would think there would be plenty of playing time for our bench forwards. Having said that, we should not go into the season with that mentality either. I think it's best we sell James. World class player like should not rot at the bench when he can provide great service to another team. Jese needs to be loaned out too. Morata, Vazquez, Isco, and Asensio as our go to subs would be sufficient.
This kid seems like the real deal. I read somewhere(maybe on here lol) that he was involved in 55% of Espanyol's chances created or goals last season. It'd b interesting to see how he does in a Jese(pre-injury) role this season.
Yeah, but I just don't see us adding the right player. We had a chance to improve our staying eleven and we didn't take it. It's like our president doesn't realize he can't make another change till winter 2018. I hope this confidence pays out, because if it does they will look like geniuses. If it doesn't, he better not fire Zidane, because he ain't the problem.
If you were to ask me which of the two has the potential to be a RM starter in the future, the answer is easy: Asensio. I would rather Jese function as a backup to Ronaldo for a couple more seasons than Asensio go down the same road as Jese by rotting on our bench. This is the EXACT situation Jese was in after the 2014 season. He was 21, we had just won the CL, so we were in for a couple extra games that following season as well. I mean, my god can we please learn from out past mistakes? I don't want to be here in 2018 saying "Asensio really needs to go out on loan if he wants to live up to his potential"
Now, I agree, although a few years ago even in Castilla I think a lot expected big things for Jese in the future, the issue however is not who has a higher ceiling, but how convinced are we with their contribution now. I'm not satisfied by Jese's and I don't think it's just about the minutes (Rayo's game which he started could be an example). I think Asensio could do just as well & will benefit more, probably using this season to establish himself for the next one where he can start taking over from one of the starters. Jese came back in midseason at December recovering from ACL, missing ~25o days of football, playing for Ancelotti who wasn't known to be a big fan of rotation, so Asensio's situation is very different from Jese in 2014-2015. And BTW, IMO Asensio's game is a bit different from Jese, he isn't as fast or as good finisher but his ball control, passing, and decision making are good which may allow him to play in more roles away from the goal, probably in Isco's LCM too (I don't think he is ready for it now but he could adapt to it), unlike Jese who we couldn't really fit him in positions beside LW, RW, or SS.