Real Madrid say Raúl Asencio has a muscle injury in the rectus femoris of his right leg, and reports put the absence at six weeks. That does not just affect his pre-season. It also makes the summer move the club had been pushing far harder to complete before the window closes.
The injury and the transfer problem
The club’s medical update is straightforward. "Following tests carried out today on our player Raul Asencio by the Real Madrid Medical Services, he has been diagnosed with a muscle injury in the rectus femoris of his right leg. His recovery will be monitored," said Real Madrid Medical Services.
That diagnosis matters because a player with a six-week layoff is in no position to pass a medical at a new club. Sports Mole said the injury could block a summer departure for exactly that reason.
There was already a push to move Asencio on, and the injury now adds a simple practical obstacle to a deal that looked difficult enough anyway. Reports from other outlets described the problem differently, with one saying hamstring and another saying rectus femoris, but the official club statement settles the injury location.
Madrid still seem likely to revisit the exit
The bigger point is that this does not read like a permanent change of plan. Asencio’s trainer, Luiso Hernandez, said: "He has always made it clear to me that he wants to stay at Madrid, play a key role and succeed. That's why we've worked to ensure he's in the best possible shape for this pre-season, which is a new and different situation for all the players at Madrid."
Hernandez also said: "The key has been to treat the situation as normal. To understand that Real Madrid is the most demanding environment in the world and that, when you’re at Madrid, you’re exposed to the possibility of this sort of thing happening."
Real Madrid’s stance may still be to work on an exit once he recovers, rather than abandon the idea altogether. Asencio averaged 89.4 minutes across his last five matches and posted a 6.68 rating in that stretch, which suggests he was still being used regularly before the setback. Even so, Jose Mourinho has already told him he is not in his plans for the 2026-27 season, so the direction of travel was set before the injury news arrived.
Madrid finished second in La Liga in 2025, which explains why they are not going to sit still on squad planning. For now, though, the immediate issue is less about where Asencio goes next and more about getting him fit enough for any market to open up again.
Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →
