Arsenal: With every match, Dani Ceballos looks more like Cazorla

Dani Ceballos was the bright spot for Arsenal against Aston Villa and with yet another positive performance, it’s time to kick the Cazorla comparisons again.

The question at the beginning of the year was how Arsenal was going to keep hold of Dani Ceballos, clearly the midfielder we needed, the replacement to Aaron Ramsey. The question now is how Arsenal are going to keep hold of Dani Ceballos, the midfielder we need, the heir apparent of Santi Cazorla.

While Arsenal was far from their best against Villa, Ceballos was back at his best. He was everything in a match where we lacked so much. Throughout the match, he proved to be our best attacking threat, spinning and weaving into the box.

He also proved to be arguably our best defender, always popping up and swarming the ball-carrier, taking over and pushing play forward.

I will always remember Santi Cazorla for one particular run he made against Manchester City. After being spun to the ground, he proceeded to keep hold of the ball and weave his way about fifty yards through the City defense.

Against Burnley earlier in the year, Ceballos made a similar run and everyone who wasn’t already comparing Ceballos to Cazorla joined the bandwagon.

With yet another positive performance full of spins and dribbles, creativity and ideas, and so, so much individual inspiration, it’s impossible not to yet again think that we’ve found our solution to the longtime midfield problem of lacking a midfield pivot.

Ceballos only has two more matches in an Arsenal shirt, though. And with the end so near, Ceballos has spoken out about how he has enjoyed his time at the Emirates, and how it would make sense to stay there, since he’s acclimated now and wouldn’t have to go anywhere new next year.

This kicked up some second-year-loan talks as well as compounding on the recent rumors that Real Madrid could be looking to sell him for half the price we were expecting to pay—just £22.5m. These rumors faded pretty quickly, however.

Whatever the case, the continued growth towards a Cazorla-esque presence is only going to make it more and more important that we figure out a way to keep him, even if it’s just for another year.

Because then we get to stress about how to keep him long-term for yet another year. Since it was so much fun the first time around.