Dani Ceballos, Staying At Arsenal Or Returning To Madrid?

JAKARTA - Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta denied that he had contacted Real Madrid regarding Dani Ceballos' status. The Spanish midfielder is currently on loan at the Gunners, but there is no permanent purchase option in the deal.

Ceballos got off to a promising start at the Emirates Stadium, but injury kept him out for two months and it cost him a place in the starting line-up. Then the rumors surfaced that Arsenal would cancel his loan spell in January.

Now, the loan from Real Madrid is back in prominence, appearing in five games since the end of the January transfer window, two of which have started.

"We haven't had any conversations (with Real Madrid)," Arteta said during a press conference on Thursday when asked about Ceballos' possible signing.

As there is no purchase option in Ceballos' loan deal, Arsenal will have to negotiate with Real Madrid if they are to keep the 23-year-old before 30 June.

Conversely, if Ceballos returns to the Santiago Bernabeu, the bench will return to his position. You see, Los Blancos have a myriad of excellent midfielders. In fact, since Fede Valverde's arrival last season, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos have rarely played together.

In six matches last month, the duo Modric and Kroos have started only once. Apart from against Levante, only one of them took to the field from the start. Basically, when Zidane played one of them from the start, he put the others on the bench.

Against Barcelona, ​​Celta Vigo and Real Sociedad, Kroos started and Modric was left out. Again Manchester City and Osasuna, it was Modric's turn to play from the start and Kroos sat on the bench.

Prior to this match, there was the Madrid derby, when Zidane put in five central midfielders at once. However, when he didn't like what he saw in the first half, he decided to replace Kroos and Isco in the first half, leaving Modric, Casemiro and Valverde to remain in midfield.