In many ways it does seem pointless for a club to force a loanee to stay with you when they want to leave – they won’t be your player at the end of the season so it’s just hurting everyone in the long run.
That means that Mikel Arteta must be confident that he can get the best out of Dani Ceballos going forward, as Marca have commented on the latest with the Real Madrid loanee.
READ MORE: Bad news for Arsenal as transfer target Layvin Kurzawa subject of swap talks between Juventus and PSG
They mention that he is unhappy with his lack of playing time at The Emirates and there was talk of a return to Spain and a transfer to Valencia, but Mikel Arteta hasn’t written him off just yet.
Arteta said the following about the midfielder’s future:
“When I joined the club he wasn’t here, he was in Madrid because he was doing his rehab for over a month with the team that owns him.”
“When I came here he was doing his rehab in the first two or three weeks, getting back to fitness, and I haven’t seen much of him because he only trained with us for a week or 10 days.”
“It’s very early to assess what I can or cannot do with him. I heard about all those things but I have nothing to comment.”
That suggests he could still have a future at Arsenal, but it doesn’t sound like Arteta will be giving him any special treatment when it comes to getting back into the team.
There’s not long left in the window, but Arsenal could use his wage to strengthen the team elsewhere if he left, so it might be wise to just let him go if he doesn’t want to be there.