Arsenal: 6 Cut-Price Transfers to Fill Dani Ceballos’ Boots

Here are 6 cheap transfer options to replace Dani Ceballos if he does not return to Arsenal.

Dani Ceballos, beloved by Arsenal players, fans, and Mikel Arteta alike, is reportedly weighing up his options for the 2020/21 season. It is rumoured that that he does not want to return to parent club Real Madrid, as he does not believe he will feature enough under Zinedine Zidane. Instead, he is weighing up two potential moves: either permanently sign for Arsenal, or move back home to Real Betis.

He had a rocky start to the year, but grew into his boots, especially after the restart. My favorite statistic to quote is that, from the 17th of June to the 1st of August, Ceballos led the team in touches, key passes, dribbles completed, tackles, interceptions, ball recoveries, and distance covered.

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The Spaniard was signed to fill the primary creative role in the team, but ended up transitioning into a archetypal number eight, tasked with massive space to cover, and equal portions of defensive and creative duties.

As a result, replacing him will be that much harder. With a war chest looted by the reportedly incumbent signing of Gabriel Magalhaes – for a reported fee of around £27m – Arsenal are going to have to get creative.

As a result, I’ve lined up two varieties of replacements, with a maximum budget of £25 million. We’ll be looking at pure box-to-box options, skilled at playing in a two or three-man midfield, and some more creative options, who would feature best as the primary creator in midfield three, or as the number ten in a 4-2-3-1 formation.