Marco Asensio has told Real Madrid TV that tennis player Rafael Nadal was behind his move from Real Mallorca to Real Madrid in 2015.
Asensio, 21, has broken into the first-team squad under Zinedine Zidane this season as Madrid have won La Liga and reached the Champions League final.
And his move to the Bernabeu came about as the result of a conversation between 14-time major winner Nadal, who was born in Mallorca but supports Los Blancos, and Madrid president Florentino Perez.
"That story is true," Asensio said. "He called Florentino and told him to snap me up.
"That winter [2014] my agent told me that Real Madrid were interested in me. Several clubs were calling and it was a bit hectic, but one day before a game Florentino called me and said I was going to be a Real Madrid player.
"It all happened in a single day: we went to Madrid, I signed the contract, we were shown round the [Santiago] Bernabeu and [the training ground in] Valdebebas and then we went back to Mallorca to finish the season.
"It all happened very quickly and it was intense, but I felt a huge sense of satisfaction."