Arsenal brought in Dani Ceballos on a season-long loan deal from Real Madrid and in the initial stages, the playmaker had impressed a lot of people.
But then as luck would have it, the 23-year-old suffered a torn muscle bundle due to which he had to head back to Madrid in order to continue his rehabilitation.
Dani Ceballos had played in last Premier League game for Arsenal back in the second week of November during the 1-1 draw vs Wolves and since then he’s missed 11 games for the North London side.
And while some people think he’s well to fully recover but in fact, he was on the bench during Arsenal’s recent win vs Man United but was surprisingly left out of the squad during their last game vs Palace.
These recent snubs by the new Gunners manager has led to rumours that Arteta is not too big a fan of the playmaker which is why he is not opting to use him. But in reality, there’s no negativity surrounding Ceballos with the manager making it clear that the loanee just not up to speed.
Here’s what the manager said when asked about using the playmaker: “Yes,
“Dani had an injury where he was out for almost two months and had to go to Madrid for his rehab.
“He came back and in the first few weeks, I didn’t think that he was physically at the level to compete for starting games.
“It’s true that I have players in that position who have been performing really well, and last week when I believed that he was ready to step in, I decided to pick another player.
“But he’s been training good, I’m happy with him and I know him really well, so there’s no issues there.”
Sheffield United are more than a force to reckon with this season which is why we feel Arteta will not risk using Dani Ceballos in this match either. At best, the 23-year-old can come on as a second-half substitute if they can manage to wrap up all the three points by then.
