Arsenal: As long as Dani Ceballos doesn’t do a Denis Suarez

Arsenal have announced the year-long loan of Dani Ceballos, which is kind of exciting, as long as he doesn’t pull a Denis Suarez.

Arsenal‘s flaccid attempts to replace Aaron Ramsey have been woefully underwhelming, but they do have at least a short-term solution—Dani Ceballos on a one-year loan from Real Madrid. The young Spanish midfielder impressed with numerous youth outfits, and Unai Emery stands by his knowledge of the player from his Real Betis years.

You could be forgiven for drawing Denis Suarez comparisons. Ceballos is coming from Real Madrid and Suarez came from Barcelona. Both had Emery’s stamp of approval, both were clearly thought to be solutions to rather ugly problems.

I still won’t say that Suarez failed on his own accord. It wasn’t his talent that caused him to disappear, it was the fact that he couldn’t stay healthy. Suarez was definitely a talented guy, who showed signs of improvement, but he never had the opportunity to thrive carved out for him.

But Emery seemed more committed to Suarez, seeing as how we secured the option to buy and Emery had actually coached Suarez earlier in his career.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

Ceballos is younger, so that’s good. But we don’t have the option to buy. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but it would require additional steps to get to a place where we could make the move permanent.

The other similarity, as alluded to, is that they are both filling a gaping need. Suarez was coming in to bolster the Mesut Ozil/Henrikh Mkhitaryan mess and Ceballos is coming in to replace Aaron Ramsey. Unfortunately for Suarez, Ozil and Mkhitaryan both stepped up, albeit briefly, on his arrival.

Ceballos won’t face that problem. Which could be good.

But there’s also more capacity for him to fail on his own accord, because there’s nowhere to hide. The opening that Suarez was supposed to slip into closed before he even had a chance. Ceballos won’t find the same problem. He will have his opportunity, and as long as he doesn’t completely soil himself, there’s no reason to think that he can’t be a healthy contributor to a midfield that is going to be dented and damaged without the Welsh Xavi.

I don’t have much concern that Ceballos will be another Suarez. Honestly what I’m more concerned about is that he will do so well that I want to buy him and Real Madrid don’t want to play ball. But then again, I’m an optimist.