NADAL HELPED SIGN ASENSIO!

Rafael Nadal played a crucial role in the transfer of Marco Asensio to Real Madrid, according to club president Florentino Perez. Asensio shot to prominence this month after scoring in the Champions League final and netting a hat-trick for Spain at the Euro Under-21 Championship but it was at boyhood club Real Mallorca where he first caught the eye. Madrid signed the then 19-year-old in the summer of 2015 for a fee of around £3m and it was all prompted by a phone call from Nadal to his uncle Miguel Angel. "I called Rafa Nadal and asked him to talk to his uncle Miguel Angel, who was Mallorca's sports director," Perez said."[I told Nadal] to tell him that we wanted to buy him [Asensio]. He behaved perfectly and we closed the deal quickly.