Dani Ceballos is not giving up his Real Madrid dream despite his contract rapidly running out and there being no new offer on the table.
Dani Ceballos has long said that his dream is to make it as a successful footballer with Real Madrid.
Since signing for them in 2017, however, Ceballos has played more minutes for Arsenal on loan than he has managed for his parent club (4,711 v 3,365).
With his contract up in the summer, and no new deal on the table, it seems very likely that his Real Madrid adventure will be coming to an end this summer, but the midfielder is not quite ready to give up just a yet.
AS in Spain claims Ceballos believes he can do enough to convince Carlo Ancelotti he deserves a new deal. He is apparently hopeful he can take advantage of the tiring legs of players who were at the World Cup.
So far this season, Ceballos has played just 209 minutes.
Ceballos arrived in London with a point to prove. Discarded by Zinedine Zidane despite being a favourite of the Real Madrid hierarchy, he wanted to show that he was good enough to play regularly for a club like the La Liga giants.
It didn’t really work out like that.
Real Betis, are keen to bring him back to the club. They’ll likely have to sell to afford his wages, so they are naturally attracted to the possibility of signing him for free.
Ceballos began his professional career with Real Betis, where he came up through the academy and made his first-team debut in 2014. He played for Betis for three seasons, making a total of 96 appearances and scoring 10 goals.
During his time with Betis, Ceballos established himself as one of the top young talents in Spanish football and was named the best player in the Segunda Division in 2015.
In 2017, he left Betis to join Real Madrid on a deal that cost Madrid £14.85m.