Marco Asensio concerned about his immediate future at Real Madrid?

Despite being a first team regular and a Spanish international, Marco Asensio appears concerned about his immediate future at Real Madrid.

Reports in the media say that he doesn't trust the coaches at Real because he knows they want to sign Eden Hazard from Chelsea. That's something he needs to take up in person with Zinedine Zidane himself though; provided of course that Marco actually made the comments in the first place.

Zidane has undoubtedly placed his faith in Marco and there's little to suggest otherwise. Since breaking into the first team he's gone from strength to strength but it's easy to forget how long Marco Asensio has been around at the Bernabéu.

Outside of Madrid circles it would appear that very few scribes or commentators are aware that it was December 2014 when young Marco actually signed for the club - on the personal recommendation of Real Madrid fanatic and tennis legend Rafa Nadal to the president, Florentino Pérez.

The signing of Marco Asensio and the way this was handled afterwards remains one of the most obvious examples of how Real Madrid's model of signing promising youngsters from the lower divisions actually works in practice.

Allowing them to remain on-loan at their original club represents astute business sense coupled with footballing foresight.

It has to be noted though that the important factor here is that the signings this policy are best applied to all come from outwith La Primera.

It's not going to work with players being recruited from the top division; a classic example of this being Dani Ceballos for whom there was no turning back once he made it clear that he would welcome a move from Betis to Madrid.

But Real's policy in this respect isn't all about taking players from immediate competitors. As with all clubs, that comes during the transfer window. Signings made then are either popular or not depending on which side of the move you're on.

Whether you're a fan of the signing club or the of one who has just seen an important player go somewhere else obviously shapes opinions.

The sign and loan back system works well for Real Madrid; and I don't think that any other signing in recent times typifies this more than the way in which Marco Asensio moved to the Bernabéu.

As a youngster playing in Real Mallorca's first team in La Segunda, Marco shone and his potential didn't go unnoticed. Real Madrid weren't the only club interested. Barça too had expressed an interest but the now-famous tale of Rafa Nadal's perseverance has become legendary.

It's been an ongoing argument during the last few seasons whether young lads like Marco (as he was at the time of signing) should be farmed out to play first team football at other clubs if the feeling is that they're not quite ready to step into Real's first team.

The ideal situation would be for them to remain in Castilla, training with the first team on a regular basis and allowing their football to develop from within the club. However, with Castilla still playing in Segunda B aka La Liga 3, going out on loan is a good option for most of Real's youngsters who are being groomed for a place in Zidane's squad.

It just doesn't make sense signing someone from a club in La Segunda and then asking him to play at a lower level. If Castilla were to be promoted then it would be a different story; but Zidane like most managers favours the B team system of having reserves who are of Primera standard playing in first teams elsewhere.

Marco has been a prime example of this. After a season with Espanyol, Marco returned to the Bernabéu, making 23 appearances in Real's first team last season.

He's the player to watch right now; and is turning out to be one of the club's best signings.

Not only that, but having now stepped up to the full Spanish national team Marco will be looking to establish himself as part of coach Julen Lopetegui's squad as well.

Based on his performances to date both for club and country, that's not going to be too difficult.

The difficult part might be to convince him that just because the rumour mill says that the coaches like this player, that player, or another; it doesn't necessarily mean that a deal is in the offing.

The best way for Marco to handle the situation at the moment will be to sit down with Zinedine Zidane and talk things through face to face. That way any fears he may have about losing his position can hopefully be allayed.