Dani Ceballos says joining Arsenal has allowed him to take an important step in his career, and he doesn’t regret not being in Madrid.

Ceballos joined Arsenal on loan over the summer, hoping to earn some more game time than he was getting under Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid.

The midfielder only appeared in one of Real’s last nine games in 2018/19, but he’s featured in every single game for Arsenal so far. Clearly, things are going to plan for the Spaniard, who is also back and performing well in his national team’s squad.

Things are going pretty well for Madrid too, who are top of La Liga as things stand, though they’ve started their Champions League campaign terribly and sit bottom of their group. All the same, Ceballos doesn’t regret leaving them behind – at least for the year.

“Going to Arsenal has been a very important step in my career,” Ceballos said. “I don’t feel sorry for not being in Madrid. Right now I am where I want to be and I am very happy.

“My idea was to go out, play and enjoy football. In the previous two years, I had not done so. In this national team, there is no one undroppable. I am very happy with the trust that has been placed in me.”

The Arsenal fans have taken to Ceballos pretty quickly, coming up with a couple of chants for the player and being pleased with his performances for the most part. No one has created more chances for the team this season than Ceballos’ 14, and he offers something to Unai Emery’s attempt at a pressing game as well.

There’s still a sense Ceballos might be better off playing a deeper role than number 10, with either Özil or Willock alongside/ahead of him. That was the system against Standard Liege recently and it worked wonders.

There’s plenty of time left to figure out the best way to utilise the Real Madrid man though, then Arsenal just need to hope that finding his role in the team gets them results and convinces Ceballos to stay long term.