Arsenal brought Dani Ceballos in from Real Madrid last summer on loan, but the jury is still out whether the club should try to make that move more permanent.
The 23 year-old hasn’t enjoyed the most fruitful campaign, with a long-term injury having ended a long-run of first team action for us, and he has only recently reached a level worthy of consideration for a regular starting spot.
Boss Mikel Arteta admitted today that there had been no such talk about a permanent move for the midfielder as of yet, but he is finally happy with what he brings to the first-team having struggled to return to peak condition since his injury.
“We haven’t had any discussions about it [a permanent deal],” the Gunners boss replied when asked.
“I’m really happy with Dani and what he’s bringing to the team right now.
“It took him a while after his injury to get to the level that he has and that I’ve seen in the past. He’s performing much better now and that’s why he’s playing much more games.”
I’m a Ceballos fan from watching him earlier in the campaign, and it has been a frustrating couple of months as he tried to build up his fitness.
Part of me wondered whether there was some politics behind the scenes as to why he was not playing due to his controversial tweet previously about killing people in the Catalan and Basque regions (Arteta was born in the Basque region and played some of his early years with Barcelona), but we appear to have put those thoughts to bed of late.
I think the jury is still out on whether we should try to sign Ceballos on a permanent deal this summer, (no pre-agreed fee was installed in the loan signing), but I’m certainly keen to see if he can show more consistency between now and the transfer window.
Patrick