Report: Dani Ceballos expected to leave Arsenal at the end of the season

Dani Ceballos has had an up-and-down loan stint at Arsenal over the past two seasons. On one hand, the Spanish midfielder has been a regular starter in Mikel Arteta’s team — usually playing in a double pivot, or sometimes as the lone defensive midfielder.

On the other hand, as Kiyan Sobhani and Matt Wiltse have discussed regularly on our loan-tracker podcast, that position doesn’t see Ceballos thrive, and doesn’t get him involved much in the final-third.

He has had several consequential errors in Arsenal’s Europa League run this season, the most recent one being getting a red card vs Villarreal last night.

A report today from Fabrizio Romano states that Ceballos will not stay on loan at Arsenal beyond this season, and that he will return to Real Madrid.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that he will be a Real Madrid player next season, but it does mean, if the report is true, that he’ll come back to the Spanish capital and will have to sort out his next move from here.