Real Madrid striker Mariano 'turned down' up to 10 January offers to stay

Real Madrid striker Mariano Diaz reportedly turned down up to 10 different offers to leave the Santiago Benabeu on loan during the January transfer window. AS claims that Alaves and Real Betis were keen on signing him on deadline day including Liverpool who wanted to lure the player to the Premier League.

The 23-year-old was promoted by Zinedine Zidane to Real Madrid's first-team squad during the summer after impressing in the club's youth ranks, scoring 32 goals in 43 appearances for the second team.

The Dominica Republican international has since been restricted to a role as the third-choice striker in the first-team due to the presence of Karim Benzema and Alvaro Morata.

But a clinical Mariano has taken his limited opportunities with aplomb scoring five goals in only nine appearances.

The stats are more impressive considering that he has only clocked 223 minutes of playing time as most of those appearances came from the bench – meaning he averages a goal every 44.6 minutes.

AS suggests that Real Madrid were ready to send the striker on loan in order not to stunt his meteoric rise. Mariano in any case decided against leaving Real Madrid even though up to 10 clubs reportedly made enquiries to lure him away from the Santiago Bernabeu.

AS claims that Alaves and Betis were the two clubs who insisted the most in the dying days of the transfer window but added that three other La Liga clubs – Leganes, Sporting Gijon and Malaga – were also closely monitoring the situation.

Enquiries reportedly also came from Liverpool and Bundesliga outfit Eintracht Frankfurt.

Liverpool were also linked with former Real Madrid forward Jese Rodriguez but Jurgen Klopp eventually failed to make any new additions during the January window.

Real Madrid could not sign any players due to a Fifa transfer embargo but the club sanctioned the loan departures of Martin Odegaard and Lucas Silva to Heereveen and Cruzeiro respectively.