Real Madrid sensation Marco Asensio coy on €150m Barcelona offer but admits summer interest

Marco Asensio has refused to confirm whether Barcelona made a €150m (£135,2m, $179.4m) offer to lure him away from Real Madrid during the summer transfer window – but did confirm that some clubs expressed interest in his signature.

The Spain international has also admitted that he could have moved to the Nou Camp before Los Blancos recruited him from Mallorca in December 2014.

Reports in Spain during the summer of 2014 claimed that Barcelona were close to signing Asensio in a deal worth around €4.5m. However, the Catalans decided to pull out of the negotiations at the very last minute after refusing to pay all the money up front; preferring to pay in installments.

Real took advantage of the situation to lure him to the Bernabeu only months later with Asensio having since emerged as one of the most promising players in Europe.

It was said in the summer that Barcelona had considered reviving their interested in the player to fill the gap left by Neymar's departure to Paris Saint-Germain.

Radio Statio Cadena Cope said that the Catalans and another unnamed club were prepared to pay €150m to secure his services - with the former making an enquiry to sound out whether the player would be willing to make the shock move to the Nou Camp.

Asked by Cope whether he was aware of the Barcelona offer, Asensio replied: "I know there were some clubs interested but ... yeah. There was some clubs interested but from the very first moment my idea was to stay here because I'm happy here."

Pressed on whether one of the clubs were Barcelona, he only responded: "These things are dealt with by [my agent] Horacio [Gaggioli]."

Asensio, however, was less coy when asked about the offer received by Barcelona during his early days at Mallorca.

"Mallorca had a lot of problems and there was an option to sign [for Barcelona]. Not only for Barcelona but other teams. However, at the end the following winter I joined Real Madrid," Asensio added.

"It was destiny. The move to Barça didn't go ahead and I joined Real Madrid. I am delighted to play in the club that I support since I was a kid. When Horacio called me to tell me that there was interest from Real Madrid I told him that I just wanted to play there."

Last week, Real president Florentino Perez revealed that Los Blancos turned down some enquiries for the 21-year-old during the summer transfer window.

"I believe that there were inquiries for him but everybody knows he is happy here and we're happy with him. He is a player for the future and he is going to give us a lot to be happy about. He came to us when he was very young. He didn't come through the academy but as he arrived at such a young age we consider him a youth product," Perez said when asked about Asesio.

"At Madrid all the players have enormous buy-out clauses, it is a dissuasive device: if somebody wants to buy one of our players they can call us and we'll tell them if it's possible or not. I can't remember what Marco's clause is it but it is high. Even if it was 10 million euros he wouldn't go anywhere because is happy at Real Madrid."