Dani Ceballos’ return to Arsenal this summer was a result of his failed relationship with Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane.
That’s according to El Confidencial, who cover the Spanish midfielder’s departure today as part of a piece looking at the players Zidane has sent away from the Bernabeu in recent years.
Ceballos, as you’ll be aware, joined Arsenal on loan for a second loan spell after a successful time with the Gunners last season.
Back in September, there were several reports in Spain that Mikel Arteta had been key to the move, with AS explaining he was one of the player’s ‘main supporters’ and had a ‘decisive influence’ in convincing him to move back to the Emirates.
That was backed up by Ceballos himself, with Marca reporting him saying that “with Mikel, I found happiness as a player and as a person” during a press conference with the Spanish national team.
The indication from all corners was that the midfielder had been extremely unhappy at Real Madrid and El Confidencial pick up on that today.
They say that Ceballos was actually a signing made by Real general director José Ángel Sánchez, who, among other things, had only done it to ‘steal him from Barça’.
Zidane, for his part, made it clear ‘from the first moment’ that Ceballos was not a player ‘to his liking’ and he didn’t need him because the playmaker position was well covered in the squad.
This left Ceballos ‘sucking the bench’, something he complained about on several occasions – which presumably didn’t go down well with Zidane.
Thus he left for Arsenal where Arteta has ‘given him the prominence and affection’ he did not get from Zidane, with whom he ‘has no relationship’.
The tone, as it has always been, is that Ceballos did not feel the love at Madrid but is getting that and more from Arteta and Arsenal, something which very much dictated his return to the club in the summer.
