If reports from Spain are to be believed, Real Madrid won’t sanction an extension of Dani Ceballos’ loan deal with Arsenal because we have so far refused to match the financial terms of the previous arrangement.
Ondo Cero claims that the Gunners have only offered to pay 50 per cent of the player’s wages next season having stumped up the full amount last time around. They also suggest that we’ve baulked at the idea of a €4 million loan fee.
As AS reported yesterday, Madrid are set to recall the 24-year-old for pre-season training while continuing to be open to letting the player go on a permanent basis if a decent offer is forthcoming.
After ending the season as a regular in Mikel Arteta’s midfield, Ceballos sounded pretty open to staying at the Emirates and optimistic that he’d be selected for Spain’s squad for the European Championships if his good form continued.
In contrast, he’s shown little enthusiasm for playing for Zidane with whom he’s known to have a frosty relationship.
As always, we suggest these reports are taken with a pinch of salt. Spain’s big clubs are famed for leaning on the local press when they want to put pressure on transfer negotiations. We’d be surprised if this story is done and dusted.
This is disappointing. This has really thrown a wrench into our summer plans. We have to restructure the entire midfield now – considering the outgoings we are looking to move on as well.
Yeah but it’s probably BS
Zidane doesn’t want him. That’s clear. So the Real squad building stuff is nonsense.
However, his recent form must’ve turned some heads. They probably want to see if there’s any concrete cash offers before they decide to send him back to us. If I were Real, I’d probably do the same. Apart from freeing up some wages, sending him on loan again isn’t a great resolution for anyone.
Come on Stan and Josh. You’ve seen the lads potential. Big resale potential. Throw £25m at Real and let’s test their resolve.
The reason given in the article appears to be that we can’t/won’t stump up all his wages and pay a £3.6 million loan fee. If true, that doesn’t suggest to me that there’s £25 million spare cash laying around to “test Madrid’s resolve” or I think we would have done that – but if there is, I guess we’ll see in due course.
When Dani came to us he was an unknown quantity that we were able to try on loan. His post corona endeavours have been very convincing, so if Real expects us to pay his wages in full, as we did until now, and pay a very reasonable loan fee then I can absolutely understand that. I am not sure why we seem to think that someone else should pay a part of Dani’s salary or why we should be able to loan this kind of player for free. If we can’t afford that, then we can’t, so be it. Someone… Read more »
I think the context is being forgotten. Ceballos wasn’t some unknown youngster, but a top Spanish prospect. His loan was almost entirely caused by the fact that Zidane, for whatever reason, does not rate him. Pre-covid, there would have been competition for him among top Spanish and Italian clubs, if Real were willing to sell. Post-covid, that’s still probably true, though probably at a lower amount.
I do think you’re right. It’s likely they want a cash payment rather than a loan. I do think Arsenal have the money to push through this signing, but they don’t want to reveal their hand. It is upsetting in part because 25 million is not in today’s market – “breaking the bank.” And as you say, he is young and has resale value.
Agree with all you said except for “Stan and Josh, you’ve seen the lads potential”.. i doubt they know anything about football… or even watch our games…
It is going to be a long transfer season. Lots of poos before some actual thing happens. It is not your or my job to worry about plans, the folks on the board are paid for it to have Plan B C in place, we will just rate the window. Good or Terrible.
Most stories are lazy imagination or speculation but it surely provides entertainment.
Fucking Real.
Real Mad.
Real Mad rid of him
We want to pay 50% of his wages so why blame them?
or they’re just leaking stuff to the media to try to get a bidding war going. Real is going to have to sell if they want to bring in any starters especially as Bale looks like he’s just going to see out his contract after the stunt they pulled on him last year.
Bit shortsighted of Real.
They know Dani will not be a starter regularly for them, so instead of having the player develop further at Arsenal where he will get a lot more game time, they’d rather he waste a season on the off chance he might play.
Shame really.
Or they’d rather sell him for a fee to raise cash now, rather than see his value potentially decrease next season as the end of his contract draws nearer. Which, to be fair to them, they are well within their rights to do.
He has a choice to make between staying at Arsenal or going back to Betis. Arsenal offers a bigger prospect, playing for a big team in England that provided a very good platform for ex spanish players in the national team (cesc, cazorla, Monreal, Bellerin, Reyes, et al). Arsenal would also offer better wages than Betis, Madrid knows we are the better prospect, they only wanted to force us into paying more than we payed previously. If a certain player could swap Betis for Spurs, why would Cebalos choose Betis for a club bigger than Spurs? Madrid is also set… Read more »
The cloaks and daggers of transfer dealings— it’s a strange world there.
As said this is a negotiating strategy.
Expect this to run a while longer et.
Yes. It doesn’t take a genius to see we are lacking playmakers in the midfield so RM’s hardball tactic seem appropriate. Our response though is to low ball another loan deal? Disconcerting maybe, but this reporting seems pretty laughable.
Sounds like they’re just trying to get us to take him on a permanent deal rather than a loan
Just curious, when is the team returning to training? just realized the community shield is just two weekends away. In a normal year we would be panicking with no movement in the market in or out but ridiculous that other teams are still actively playing out this season so close to the next
Tomorrow
must be awkward for everyone. Especially those who know they are being moved on
Fuck Real…but double triple fuck Kroenke. Stop this penny pinching (compared to big clubs) and gtfo of this club
Stop fishing for cheap likes. Pathetic.
Stop fishing for cheap likes by calling fair criticism “fishing for cheap likes”. Pathetic and childish.
Kroenke took over this club for 10 years and we went from Champions League to Europa League, from Vieira, Fabregas to begging an over average Spanish young midfielder and I’m not allowed to call out this fucker?
Real definitely playing games, we need him with a loan-to-buy option so there is a big spread to negotiate on. This definitely makes me more hopeful after that previous AS article about Real wanting to keep him in their next season plans. If Real actually wanted to keep him, they would have said so explicitly, not through media mouthpieces.
I was one of those who after his debut against Burnley, keen to sign him. His showing over the 2nd of the season was more promising and consistent. If the coach was Emery I would have hoped that Ceballos continued with us. However, with Arteta showing that he is the real deal (arguably), I’m no longer sure that Xhaka and Ceballos are the midfield of a manager with ambitions of challenging for silverware consistently. The obvious comparison is Viera or Cesc. I would very much like someone like Cazorla, someone who can receive the ball under pressure, turn and start… Read more »
Ceballos / Xhaka isn’t a title challenging midfield. But Ceballos / Partey could be
We could really do with a 3rd midfielder in the starting xi, probably a creative one, as things stand. But yeah CB options aren’t good enough for a 2, so we’ve sacrificed midfield control / build up for some defensive stability
Xhaka seems to be staying. He and Partey could form a formidable two in the middle. Strong enough that the club could leap up the table with improvement elsewhere in the squad.
As some have already said, we shall judge the window as a whole. The club finished 8th in the league. No one payer is necessarily key.
You can’t blame Real for behaving this way – they’ve hold all the cards; it’s their deck. Yet another cock-up to add to the collection. Well done, Stan and the Stooges.
If Arsenal want him they should pay whatever, more importantly, if Mikel wants him we need to back him.
They way this is all going, we should’ve known we don’t have the board that will back Arteta. I want Arteta to come out and say Kroenje is a cockroach so all the fans wake up to get him out.
Well, it seems like the ball is back in our court. The problem is that money is so tight – hence the reluctance to pay all his wages and (a relatively) small loan fee.
Please announce someone….
ANNOUNCE TNETENNBA.
Fingers crossed this is just bluster, would be a crazy reason to lose him.
He’s apparently on £50k/wk at Real, so whether we pay 50% or 100% of that shouldn’t really be a big deal in the scheme of things (of player wages, anyway).
Would be silly if we missed out on him over the £1.3m or so of wages we’re haggling over. He’s become a big part of how we play and missing out would significantly lower our chances of top 4 next year
I guess the the loan fee is the more significant sticking point
Hope we’re in a position to sign him permanently this time next year
Ceballos completely won me over, despite my severest of doubts, by the end of the season — his commitment, his defensive work, his desire to move the ball forward, his joy in the game, and his celebration of his teammates’ goals were just too plain to see. I’d like to see him stay with us, either permanently or for the short term, but if a deal cannot be sorted out soon, management have to move on — we won’t be like Liverpool anytime soon, but we could start by doing our transfers/squad business with more resolve (i.e., you don’t like… Read more »
I don’t like the sound of this. Ceballos is one of the players that give us hope for next season. I really think Arteta likes him and want to keep him. It will be difficult to find a player like him, I’m not too convinced with Smith-Rowe, he has what it takes to be top but he’s a different type of player, he’s more attacking, he plays well across all front positions but I doubt he will be able to replace Ceballos in the creative deep role.
Glad to hear we’re being linked with a renewal though
Pay. The. Fucking. Money.
I’m not too bothered by this. Our midfield needs a complete overhaul, and I’m not sure how much he moves the needle. I would’ve liked to keep him, but I don’t think our ceiling is much implicated by him staying or going.
I’d be delighted if we bought him. Can see why they’re playing silly buggers.
Confident the boys at the top are well versed in the art of negotiating with and for the big clubs. Raul and Vinai do have that experience. Not saying they are good at it, but they will see the smoke n mirrors act.
Whatever is going on I really hope things start to happen soon. For me, we had ONE central midfielder last season who performed at the level we need and he’s not even ours. Personally I think ceballos just highlighted how easy it is to upgrade on xhaka. He has predominantly spent his time as a creative attacking player. That’s what we signed him for. Yet even with his lightweight frame and lack of playing in that withdrawn role he was FAR more effective defensively than xhaka and far busier both in possession and out of it. Torreira and guendouzi look… Read more »
Gotta use that money to pay the wages of more 32 year old Kia Joorabchian players, can’t afford to use it on an up and coming player who’s proven to be an important part of the squad.
Can we not just sign this guy…. I really enjoy his hunger and enthusiasm…. we should buy as by the end of next season he will be completely out of our price range…
I bet paying his wages would be no object if he were one of Kia’s own.
No link, no report mate. So i don’t believe.
How to delete this stupid comment? I comment a minute to fast. There ARE links 🙂