Arsenal: 3 better options and 3 worse options than Dani Ceballos

Arsenal has to decide what to do with Dani Ceballos, but in the meantime, here are three options better than him and three options worse than him.

Arsenal‘s midfield is the first thing that needs improvement this summer, and that all revolves around Dani Ceballos, and what the plan is there. But even expanding form Ceballos, we don’t know what Lucas Torreira is going to do, if he stays or goes; we don’t know what Matteo Guendouzi can be counted on for.

The only stable midfielder we have is Granit Xhaka, and I don’t care if you don’t agree with me on that. It’s true.

There are plenty of players being linked to join this midfield, especially following the reported £36m price tag attached to Dani Ceballos. Not every idea is a good idea, and not every idea is a wholesale fix of an idea.

So let’s talk about six solutions that have been talked about, assumedly as alternatives to Dani Ceballos. Conveniently, Ceballos is sandwiched right in the middle as the neutral idea, with three ideas being worse than keeping him and three ideas being better.

Let’s get started with the third worse option.

3, Worse: Orkun Kokcu

I’ll be making the same stipulation with all three of the “worse” options. I don’t dislike these options in general, I just don’t like the idea of them being the Ceballos replacement.

Such is the case with Orkun Kokcu, the young Dutch midfielder who is primed to break out away from the Eredivisie. The problem with him is he is young, unproven and wouldn’t exactly come cheap at £23m. Granted, it’s cheaper than Dani Ceballos’s £36m,  but that’s a big fee to pay for someone that isn’t a guaranteed starter. Not unless we plan on spending top dollar on someone else, one of the better options.

Kokcu has shown a propensity for attacking genius, with a decent work rate and the upward trajectory to be a help on defense, but the acclimation could be long and painful and if he is going to be the sole solution, that’s a massive risk to take.

On to the No. 3 better option.