Italy international Alessandro Bastoni is reportedly of interest to Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid, but an injury to Raul Asencio has complicated any chance that the 15-time Champions League winners had of landing the Inter centre-back.
Asencio injury makes Bastoni move to Madrid unlikely
Bastoni has been linked with moves to both Barcelona and Real Madrid at various stages of the off-season. More recently, reports from Spanish outlet AS have claimed that Mourinho wants two more new signings this summer: One in midfield and one at centre-back and that Bastoni is the player that the Portuguese coach wants in defence.
However, in order for Madrid to bring in any new signings at centre-back, they will first need to sell given that they already have five high-earners in their senior squad with Asencio, Antonio Rudiger, Ibrahima Konate, Dean Huijsen and Eder Militao.
Militao is currently nursing an injury, Konate has only joined the club this summer, Huijsen a year ago and Rudiger has recently signed a new contract extension, which means that if Madrid are to sell a centre-back this summer, the signs point towards academy graduate Asencio.
However, Madrid have recently confirmed that Asencio has suffered a muscular injury, which is likely to keep him sidelined for around six weeks.
That means that a move away from Madrid for Asencio before the close of the summer transfer window next month now appears unlikely, which also massively complicated any chance of Bastoni moving from Inter to the Bernabeu.
