Officials at Valencia are still optimistic they can agree a deal to sign Dani Ceballos on loan for the remainder of the season, according to reports.

The Athletic claim Valencia are hoping to bring in Dani Ceballos before transfer deadline day on Friday. Arsenal don’t want to let him go, Real Madrid aren’t keen on him joining a rival, but Valencia remain optimistic.

From an Arsenal point of view, they don’t want to let Ceballos leave without a replacement. They don’t have the funds to bring someone in without selling, so that’s the problem.

As for Ceballos, he thinks he’s fully fit and ready to play. He wants to move on to Valencia or Real Betis for regular football ahead of the Euros. He also isn’t sure exactly what Mikel Arteta wants from him, or what the plan is.

There’s not much time for all parties to come to a decision now. It’s Tuesday, deadline day is on Friday, so it’s really now or never. There are no more games for Ceballos to prove himself to Arteta, nor a huge number of training sessions.

The midfielder played pretty well in his cameo appearance against Bournemouth. Arsenal were 2-0 up, which helped, but it was still a decent showing. Whether it’s enough to get him ahead of all the other midfield options is another matter.

Joe Willock played well, Matteo Guendouzi had an excellent game, and that’s before we talk about the usual three starters: Lucas Torreira, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Özil.

It’s pretty much guesswork whether Ceballos will be able to make himself a starter and justify Arsenal keeping him in the coming months. If they let him go, we’ll never know.