Barcelona 'lost the opportunity' to sign Marco Asensio says Real Madrid star's agent

Real Madrid star Marco Asensio's agent has revealed that Barcelona "lost the opportunity" to sign the winger prior to his move to the Santiago Bernabeu from Mallorca.

The Champions League and the La Liga winners agreed a deal for the 21-year-old with Mallorca in December 2014. The player continued with his former club on loan until the end of the 2014/15 campaign.

Prior to the two clubs agreeing a fee, Barcelona offered €2.5m (£2.2m, $2.9m), with an additional bonus-related fee of €2m (£1.8m,$2.3m). However, Mallorca rejected the Camp Nou outfit's offer as they were demanding €4.5m (£4.1m, 5.3m) for the attacker.

Barcelona lost the opportunity to sign the winger and then made a U-turn. Asensio's agent Horacio Gaggioli admitted that by the time the Catalan side "changed their mind", Real had already won the race to sign the player.

"Barca said, 'No, we're not able.' They lost the opportunity. When they changed their mind after three months, it was too late," Gaggioli told Bleacher Report.

Asensio scored in both the legs for Real Madrid as the La Liga winners registered a 5-1 aggregate victory over Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup. He also scored in the Champions League win over Juventus as well as in the Uefa Super Cup against Sevilla in 2016.

Real president Florentino Perez has explained how tennis star Rafael Nadal helped his side beat Barcelona in landing Asensio. The Roland Garros winner's uncle Miguel Angel was the sporting director at Mallorca and Perez revealed Nadal's role in bringing the Spain international to Santiago Bernabeu.

Real agreed a €3.9m (£3.5m, $4.5m) with Mallorca for Asensio. Gaggioli also revealed that the current Real manager Zinedine Zidane was his client's idol and the the 12-time European champions' offer was "20 times" better, both financially and football-wise for the winger.

"His idol as a child was always Zinedine Zidane. He used to have a huge picture of him on his wall. The offer from Real Madrid for Asensio was 20 times better than Barcelona's in every aspect, football-wise and financially," Asensio's agent explained.