Dani Ceballos has continued to play with the emotions of Arsenal fans by clarifying he wants to succeed with Real Madrid.

This week, some rather misleading quotes emerged in the English media, with Ceballos appearing to suggest he was happy to move on from Real Madrid.

The midfielder has since clarified to Radio Marca (via Metro) that he was referring to his desire for playing time.

“My words were misunderstood. When I do not play, I don’t enjoy myself,” Ceballos said. “It was a good time to go out on loan. With [Unai] Emery’s confidence, I may have a chance of going to the Euros.

“I never thought of leaving permanently. My goal is to succeed at Real Madrid. I’m going to fight to fulfil my dream.”

To be fair to Ceballos, and to all players who move around on loan, it’s a very tricky situation to be in. He has to keep his parent club happy, along with their fans, by showing he still cares about them and wants them to succeed.

At the same time, he knows the Arsenal fans want to see him forming a relationship with them, and hear him heaping praise on their club too. It isn’t going to be an enjoyable year if everyone knows he just wants to leave as soon as possible.

Ceballos likely doesn’t know what he’ll want to do in seven or eight months’ time, so it’s only sensible to keep both clubs on side for now. He doesn’t even know if Arsenal will bid for him next summer, so it would be foolish to cut ties with Madrid completely.

Personally, I’m happy just to let Ceballos do his talking on the pitch for now, and we can worry about his future when Arsenal are back in the Champions League and hopefully fighting for a trophy.