Getting a player on loan for a season from Real Madrid would normally be a good piece of business, especially when you are strapped for cash.
But if you pay a fee of £12 Million then it is no longer free and you have to question the wisdom of the deal.
Don’t get me wrong, I am pleased that we got Ceballos, I have heard good things about him but can we really afford to be paying out £12 Million plus wages for just one season?
I mean, Nabil Fekir joined Real Betis for just £17 Million and that is a permanent deal.
Surely we could have found an extra £5 Million to sign a player in a similar role for longer than one season?
Again, this is not about Ceballos, I am happy he will be a Gunner next season but he obviously has no sell on value and not a player we can build the team around, it just makes no sense to me.
There is not even an option to buy clause inserted.
Only Arsenal could do a deal like this and when you add it on top of the William Saliba deal where we have to loan him back for a year then my confidence in things changing for the better at the club has been dented.
I really did not want to be negative about this deal but I cannot ignore the £12 Million fee and pretend that it has not annoyed me because it really has.