Mikel Arteta has spoken about Dani Ceballos but what do the head coach’s comments mean for the player’s future?

Dani Ceballos reportedly wants to end his Arsenal loan. When asked about that, Mikel Arteta said, “I had a conversation with Dani [Ceballos].

“When I joined the club he wasn’t here, he was in Madrid. He was doing his rehab for over a month in Madrid – the team that owns him.

“Then when I came here he was doing his rehab back the first two or three weeks. He was getting back to fitness. I haven’t seen much of him because he only trained with us a week or 10 days.

“It’s very early to asses what I can do or cannot do with him. I heard about all those things but I have nothing to comment. He needs to get back to fitness and fight for his place.”

But what does that mean?

There’s certainly nothing definitive there, either way.

Arteta’s clearly not ruling out the possibility of a recall, but it also sounds like he’s blaming fitness for Ceballos’ exclusion so far.

The 23-year-old still hasn’t played a minute since returning from injury. If he is only on the bench for fitness reasons, maybe he’ll start playing regularly soon.

It’s a bit of a strange situation though. Ceballos was in the squad against Manchester United all the way back on January 1st, over three weeks ago. Then again on January 6th for the Leeds game.

Now, Arteta is saying he only rejoined training 10 days ago.

Ceballos wasn’t in the squad against Crystal Palace on January 11th, so it’s possible he had a small setback and only rejoined training 10 days ago. Still, Arteta must have had a chance to look at him for at least a week after New Year.

All signs point towards reports that Ceballos wants to return to Spain and get another loan being true.

That doesn’t mean it’s going to happen though, especially in Arsenal’s current situation.