Marco Asensio could have played for Holland

The former Real Mallorca midfielder is one of the highest rated talents in the world right now. Fresh off the back of his hat-trick against Macedonia in the U21 European Championship, it has emerged that things could have been very different for the 21-year-old.

Asensio's full name is Marco Asensio Willemsen, with his second surname coming from his mother, who is Dutch. It is understood that the Dutch FA tried to convince the player to represent them at international level on several occasions.

The last time was as recently as 2015, when Asensio was playing for Espanyol, with the Dutch FA going as far as creating a hashtag in an attempt to convince him to play for them (#AsensioWillemsenInOranje).

Asensio, however, did not give in. In an interview with 'AS' Asensio admitted that "there has been contact but my plan is to carry on playing for Spain", before adding that his Dutch relatives had pleaded with him to change his mind.

The door to any potential switch of nationality slammed shut on Sptember 5 2016, when Asensio made his debut for the Spanish national side against Lichtenstein. The playmaker has a fantastic record when it comes to making his debut, he scored on his first appearances in four competitions for Real Madrid this year, including La Liga, the Copa del Rey, the Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup, the only one he failed to get on the scoresheet in was his full international debut, though he only played 11 minutes.