Real Madrid center midfielder Dani Ceballos is playing an important role for Arsenal this season.
At the mid-way point of the 2019-2020 season, it looked like Dani Ceballos wanted to force his way out of Arsenal after Unai Emery’s poor decisions pushed him to the periphery of the squad. The Real Madrid-owned midfielder seemed to want a move back to La Liga, with Real Betis and Valencia looking like logical options.
Instead, Ceballos impressed Mikel Arteta, who challenged Ceballos, and he’s become a key part of the team since then. Per WhoScored.com, Ceballos has recorded at least three interceptions in six of his last eight games, stepping up his defensive contributions in a way that has made him one of the Premier League side’s most important players. Ceballos also has eight key passes, seven dribbles completed, and six fouls drawn since the restart.
Arteta would like Arsenal to keep Ceballos, but they aren’t the only team that wants to sign him on another one-year loan deal. According to a report from Tony Banks of Express.co.uk, Milan, Valencia, and Real Betis are all interested in signing the player on loan.
Arsenal and Real Madrid had previously discussed a 40 million euro deal for Ceballos, but the Gunners thought that was too high of an asking price then. While Ceballos has played so well that he would have been worth that amount of money at the time, the new market due to COVID-19 has changed that. Arsenal won’t be spending 40 million euros on him.
Ceballos, meanwhile, has value to Real Madrid long-term, even though he’s not going to play for them in 2020-2021. A loan deal makes the most sense, and if he can keep playing this well at a club like Arsenal, there is no reason to loan him to a team that isn’t playing European football like Betis or Milan.
But if Ceballos wants to return to La Liga, even if it means Real have to play him twice a year, they’d surely take that into consideration. After all, the most important thing to Real Madrid is that Ceballos is comfortable and plays well. Everything else is secondary.