Arsenal and Real Madrid were locked in ‘intense negotiations’ on Tuesday according to AS who continue to report that Dani Ceballos is ‘one step’ away from joining Arsenal on loan.

The player had been said to be on the move to Tottenham but Unai Emery has reportedly convinced him that he will get more playing time with Arsenal, highlighting that he would be coming to the club as a first-choice midfielder.

Ceballos is currently on holiday after appearing in the u21 Euros and it is claimed that he would prefer to go straight to London when he returns on 22 July rather than travel to the States with Arsenal set to face Real Madrid on 23 July (24 July in the UK).

“I want to play at least 40 games and be important,” Ceballos said after the Euros this summer. He certainly isn’t getting that in Spain at present with only 22 games and 899 minutes in his first season and 31 games in his second. After Zidane arrived he played just 177 minutes.

The deal for the 22 year-old is said to be a loan but will reportedly contain no option to buy.

After AS broke the story, Marca and Mundo Deportivo followed up.

In their Wednesday edition, Mundo Derpotivo reported that Arsenal are prepared to accept all of Real Madrid’s conditions, one of which is that there will be no option at the end of the loan.

All the deal is waiting for is for Real Madrid to say ‘yes’ with the player already keen to join.

They also add that Tottenham are ‘struggling’ with the deal despite the express wishes of Pochettino that they should sign him and that Unai Emery insisted on signing Ceballos from ‘the first moment’.