The futures of Marco Asensio and Martin Ødegaard will be away from Real Madrid next season as the club weighs up loan moves to give the pair regular first team action. Rafa Benítez wants both players, signed in the winter transfer window, to get plenty of minutes next season and knows that Madrid cannot offer them. The club is currently weighing up which clubs would best fit the players. Ødegaard is liked by Villarreal but Madrid will also look at teams such as Málaga and Betis, clubs with a profile of playing attractive football, as ideal players for the young pair to progress.

The plan has always been to be patient in putting both players into Madrid’s first team plans. With Asensio, it was already agreed that he would remain at Mallorca on loan (Madrid paid €3.9 million for him) if they achieved promotion to the top flight. The Spain U19 international will travel with his country to compete in the European U19 Championships in Greece, to be played from July 6-19, and will not join the pre-season under Benítez. The plan is that once Asensio returns from his holidays (depending on how far Spain progress in Greece) a team will be in place for him.

For Ødegaard, bought for €4 million in January, things are different. The Norwegian will travel to Australia and China as part of Madrid’s pre-season due to terms agreed in his contract. He will experience a pre-season with the first team and then go out on loan in August. A move away from the club will be seen as the perfect solution as although he wants to convince Benítez of his abilities, he did not want to continue with Castilla in Segunda B.

The exit of more youth team players: Llorente and Benavente...

The loan moves of Asensio and Odegaard will not be the only transfers of young talents moving away from Madrid this summer. After Castilla’s failure to win promotion back to the Segunda a number of players look set to leave. One of the captains, Diego Llorente (21) will meet with the club he inform them that he wants to move on after completing his cycle at the club. He already has offers from England and Germany. It remains to be seen whether he will leave on loan or depart on a permanent transfer with a repurchase option because he still has two years left on his contract. The other captain, Aguza, has one more season to run on his deal but the club will allow him to move on to pastures new. Peruvian international Cristian Benavente, 21, will also assess his future with two years remaining on his contract in Madrid. The future of centre-back Derik is in England, with Watford, promoted to the Premier League, Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton Wanderers all interested.