Last week, Arsenal completed the loan deal for Dani Ceballos from Real Madrid for an estimated 17 million pounds. The deal doesn’t have a buy-clause after the one-year period is over but nevertheless, it is being touted as one of the smarter pieces of businesses done by the north London club. For a club which isn’t always associated with being smart in the market, this is a good sign.
Arsenal lost one of their best midfielders – Aaron Ramsey on a free transfer this summer and needed someone to bridge the gap in their squad. Can Ceballos be that player? Not necessarily since they’re both two different types of midfielders. Hence this transfer may also hint at a change in the system this season or a return to the old system deployed at the very beginning of Emery’s tenure at Arsenal.
As for the player himself, in this Dani Ceballos tactical analysis, we’ll prove how he’s worth the amount shelled out by Arsenal and how he adds something to the team which the current crop of players lack and hence adds greater dimension and unpredictability to the squad.
Brief introduction
At the age of eight, Ceballos joined Sevilla’s famed youth system. However, owing to health problems, he was released at the age of 12. He then joined Real Betis where he enjoyed a decent start to his professional career – he was widely claimed as one of the best young central midfielders in Spain. In fact, so decent was his beginning at Real Betis that Real Madrid came calling in 2017. He played a good share of minutes under Santiago Solari and Julen Lopetegui but wasn’t a major part of Zidane’s plans – frequently being called into matches only as a substitute. As a player in his peak years, he needs more playing time to improve and mature and that’s something Arsenal promised to provide him.
As mentioned above, Ceballos is a central midfielder or central attacking midfielder. He can play in almost any of the midfield berths – as a defensive midfielder paired with another defensive midfielder, as the left central midfielder or even as the central attacking midfielder (or the #10). This the type of versatility that Arsenal’s senior midfielders currently don’t have and will be a welcome addition.
One of the most impressive aspects of Dani Ceballos is how balanced he is. From a bird’s eye view, there’s not one aspect of his game which stands out as weaker than the other. However, he’s not a mediocre player as might be the case with most such players. Indeed, he’s shown the potential to post world-class numbers in more than one department. We’ll further analyse below how he can help Arsenal and what his most striking attributes are.
Dani CeballosDribbling and ball-carrying
Let’s start with the good stuff. Ceballos was one of the best ball-carriers in Europe during his Real Betis days. He averaged more than six dribble attempts per 90 with a completion rate of 80%. Moving to Real Madrid led to him playing in a more advanced position. With that, his dribbles per 90 dropped by almost half (3.46). His touches in the box increased and this was also likely due to his said change in role. At any rate, he was still completing his dribbles at a very high percentage and at almost elite levels.
