Arsenal may have reportedly been handed a boost to their hopes of keeping loan signing Dani Ceballos on a permanent transfer.
The exciting young Spain international looks a big talent and has made a bright start to life at the Emirates Stadium following his loan switch in the summer.
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It makes sense that Arsenal might want to keep Ceballos beyond this season, but of course the better he plays, the more of a risk there surely is that Real Madrid will want him back.
However, according to Don Balon, there could be some friction about this at the Bernabeu as manager Zinedine Zidane doesn’t want Ceballos in his first-team plans.
Club president Florentino Perez is a fan of his, though, according to Don Balon, but it remains to be seen how hard he’ll fight to keep a player he knows his manager isn’t likely to use.
On top of that, it surely makes it more likely that the 23-year-old himself would also then favour staying at Arsenal, or at least be more open to a permanent transfer somewhere else.
One imagines AFC would have the upper-hand in that situation, however, provided that Unai Emery continues to use him regularly and get the best out of him.