Marco Asensio and Pedri González have followed very similar paths in football. The two dreamed since they were children of playing in Madrid and Barça, they were very close to wearing the colors of the eternal rival and finally ended up in the club where they always wanted to play.
In the case of the Balearic, the Blaugrana were very close to his signing in the summer of 2014. Mallorca, the club to which he belonged, demanded 4.5 million euros. Barcelona, with Zubizarreta at the head of the sports management, was willing to pay it… but in installments. The vermilions, on the other hand, demanded it in cash because they needed to make cash to balance the accounts. The operation was broken and Barça finally ended up signing… Douglas! He also did it for a million more than what was asked of them for Marco.
That same winter Madrid went into action and signed Asensio, whom he left on loan until the end of that season at Mallorca. “I make my debut with the Mallorca first team and Barça appears. In the end is destiny. It was not done with Barça and I am delighted to be at Real Madrid and to be able to defend this shirt. They were very complicated days. When Horacio (his representative) called me and told me that Real Madrid was interested in me, I said that I just wanted to play there, “the player said in an interview with COPE in 2017. That indecision of Barça caused him to fulfill the dream of playing in the team he had been a fan of since he was a child (There are many photos in which Asensio is seen with a few years wearing the colors of Real Madrid).
Pedri, for his part, went the other way. His idol since he was little was Iniesta and he always dreamed of following in his footsteps at Barça. However, in 2018 an irrefutable opportunity came for a teenager who played for Laguna, his hometown team in Tenerife: Real Madrid wanted to see him. It was on February 5, 2018 when the canary traveled to Madrid to do two training sessions with Cadet A. The reports were negative: they told him that he had no level to play for Madrid.
Later, the whites would have the opportunity to sign him again in the summer of 2019, when he had already been shining for a year at the Las Palmas Youth. With the unfavorable reports on the table, they dismissed it again. Then Barcelona appeared, signed him that same summer for five million (more variables). Now, Pedri is one of the great sensations of the season, he has become indisputable for Koeman and has made his debut with the Absolute with only 18 years.
Good moment
Asensio and Pedri arrive in great form, probably the best of both this season. The two face a game that they dreamed of since they were children, although fate could make them play it with a different shirt than the one they supported in their childhood. Luckily for them, the two are where they always wanted to play.