Dani Ceballos is planning to opt against a return to Real Madrid at the end of his loan spell, according to reports in Spain.
AS (via Mirror) claim Ceballos’ bad relationship with Zidane means he’ll opt out of a return to Madrid at the end of his loan spell with Arsenal.
The Gunners are pursuing a permanent transfer, and it seems Ceballos has held preliminary talks with Real Madrid club president Florentino Perez over making that happen. At this stage, the Spanish club are still keen to keep him though.
That’s going to make things difficult, as a recent study by CIES found Ceballos to be the second-highest value loanee in Europe this season, only behind Philippe Coutinho at Bayern Munich from Barcelona.
Real Madrid reportedly want around €42m to complete a sale, whilst Arsenal are only willing to pay up to €35m.
Ceballos is currently out injured, but prior to missing the Leicester game with his hamstring issue, he’d featured in every single game for Arsenal in 2019/20. He understandably feels more important in North London than in Madrid, and perhaps that could help pushing a transfer through.