It’s fair to say that Zinedine Zidane’s return to Real Madrid has not gone as well as he and the club had anticipated.
The Frenchman returned to the Bernabéu earlier this year and spent this summer completely overhauling the squad with big-money signings.
Those significant arrivals meant sacrifices had to be made elsewhere and one who ended up departing, albeit on loan, was Dani Ceballos, who headed to Arsenal.
The move is working out well so far for the Gunners, with the Spaniard starring for them in their first four games. In his absence, Madrid have struggled, managing one win from their opening three league fixtures.
Their slow start has led some to start questioning Zidane’s choices this summer, and the decision to let Ceballos go is at the forefront.
Journalist Ulises Sánchez-Flor covers the situation for El Confidencial and says Zidane ‘must assume fans will throw it (letting Ceballos go) in his face’ every time the midfielder does something good for Arsenal.
Likewise, the Real Madrid manager will be ‘reproached’ for not giving Ceballos, as well as the likes of Marcos Llorente, Mateo Kovačić and Martin Ødegaard their chance to bring ‘fresh air’ to the team.
Ceballos is a particular sore point as he generated ‘excitement and hope’ with his performances in Spain’s success at the U21 European Championships this summer.
Those things, Sánchez-Flor explains, are exactly what Madrid need at this moment in time.
He says the Arsenal man is a player of ‘pure talent’ and one whom fans ‘identify (with) and enjoy’. Indeed, he believes Ceballos’ style ‘provokes admiration’.
His absence from a Madrid midfield ‘weakened’ by the club failing to sign a central midfielder this summer (presumably Paul Pogba) is not only a ‘mistake’ but one that will continue to cause ‘irritation’ in the white half of Madrid, Sánchez-Flor concludes.
