Dani Ceballos was not of the marquee signings that Arsenal made, but he was surely one that made a lot of buzzes. Here was a young midfielder of Real Madrid’s pedigree who was coming from a strong U21 Euros performance.
Arsenal reportedly beat Tottenham Hotspur to his signing on loan as the two North London giants wanted his services as Ceballos was looking for game time to impress the decision-makers at Santiago Bernabeu.
However, the Spaniard has struggled for game time under new manager, Mikel Arteta as he has preferred a midfield trio of Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira and Mesut Özil. With the likes of Joe Willock and Matteo Guendouzi preferred over him too.
While the starting trio has done enough to keep their place, there is a case for preferring Ceballos over the likes of Guendouzi and Willock, especially if the teams finds itself looking for goals.
Matteo Guendouzi and Joe Willock, both are dynamic and athletic in their style of play, something which might not be expected of Dani Ceballos. However, Dani Ceballos is much better at beating the press and can help the team with playing out from the back. Something Matteo Guendouzi has particularly struggled with.
Joe Willock is young and exciting, he’s, in fact, one of the most highly-rated talents coming from the Hale End. Though the midfielder is still not ready for first-team football as he has consistently failed to impress with his passing range. He’s usually used as No.10 in place of Mesut Özil. And his passing range deficiency creates difficulties for his team to build play in the final third.
Matteo Guendouzi at the other end has no issues with passing, though he misses the composure and vision to pick an attacking pass. He requires a calming influence of Granit Xhaka around him for him to really show his quality. While he struggles when paired up with Torreira as seen in Arsenal’s encounter with Burnley.
With someone like a Granit Xhaka and Lucas Torreira as one of the two central midfielders, both who are rather defensive midfielders, it’s more effective to play someone like a Dani Ceballos who can play as a No.8 and help the team with building up play in the final third which they have mostly struggled with.
