Arsenal blow in quest to keep Ceballos

 

Real Madrid are considering handing Dani Ceballos a lifeline back at the club following his impressive end-of-season form for Arsenal, claims London Evening Standard.

 

Ceballos spent the 2019/20 campaign on loan at Arsenal and really flourished once Mikel Arteta replace Unai Emery as head coach in December.

 

Arteta has been full of praise for the Spain international and hoped Arsenal would at the very least be able to loan him for another season.

 

Seemingly with no future at Madrid 12 months ago, Ceballos' long-term plans looked away from the Bernebau.

 

However, Zinedine Zidane is now seriously considering handing the 24-year-old an olive branch to resurrect his career at Madrid for next season.

 

Arsenal blow in quest to keep Ceballos

 

With Luka Modric and Toni Kroos both the wrong side of 30, Zidane wants to inject energy into his midfield and knows he will not be able to address the problem in the transfer window.

 

Martin Odegaard is set to return from his two-year loan spell with Real Sociedad 12 months early and now Ceballos could too be on his way back permanently.

 

Ceballos started 11 of Arteta's 20 Premier League matches in charge and the Gunners had a far better win ratio (63.6%) compared to when he didn't feature from the start (22.2%).