Ceballos and Zidane, in a Real Madrid training session.
"I have to sit down with Madrid and let them show me what they think is best for me," said Dani Ceballos just a month ago, still wearing the Arsenal shirt.
The uncertainty, however, has been short-lived.
At the end of his first day of training at Valdebebas, last Monday, it was already known that the 23-year-old midfielder would not find a hole in Zidane's notebook this time either.
The Sevillian returns on loan to the
Gunners
, where the season ended at full speed.
After a mid-year crisis in London, in which he came to consider asking for another destination, such as Vallejo after his invisible stint at Wolverhampton, the medium finally took off at the Emirates and became an irreplaceable for Mikel Arteta.
That position he has won in England has always been a long way off with Zidane, who has shown him in every possible way that he is not among his priorities.
The Frenchman chose to re-fish Odegaard from the Royal Society ahead of time (he had a second year on loan) to oxygenate the spinal cord and keep what he already had.
The option of airing more the width of the field with young legs, where a good representation of the old guard of the team accumulates, was ruled out by the white coach.
Not even the zero cost that his return to the club represented in a summer without signings due to the consequences of the pandemic and the macro-operation left to relieve the treasury was enough argument.
Nor did his touch football convince ZZ.
The verdict was no surprise.
Madrid signed him in 2017 from Betis as a market opportunity for 16.5 million, but his participation with Zizou was always marginal.
A clear clue of what to expect this summer.
In the first campaign, 17/18, he barely played 16.12% of the minutes (900 of 5,580).
“He came from doing a great European and, right off the bat, ostracism.
There was a time when Kroos and Modric were injured and the system changed to put other players, ”Ceballos said after the surprising goodbye from the Frenchman in 2018. His situation did not change with the return of ZZ to La Castellana.
In the 11 games that remained from 18/19, their share of appearances was similar: 17.97% (178 of 990).
Before with Lopetegui and Solari, their weight grew: 39.9% and 42.7%, respectively.
Some numbers that are close to what he experienced last season at Arsenal, where he played 37 games, 23 of them as a starter, scored two goals and gave two assists.
Brahim, on loan to Milan
Thus, the two parties soon agreed to extend the loan at Arsenal, where Ceballos does find the coach's affection and the minutes he is looking for with the Euro Cup on the horizon.
Madrid, yes, continues to avoid its sale, despite the fact that it is now in the middle of the collection process and the cache of the Utrera, with a contract until 2023, would allow him to enter an estimated amount of money.
For now, income has reached the Bernabéu with the transfers of Achraf to Inter (40 million plus five in variables), Óscar Rodríguez to Sevilla (13.5 plus 1.5), Javi Sánchez to Valladolid (3), Jorge de Frutos (2.5) and Dani Gómez (2.5) to Levante, and Alberto Soro to Granada (2.5);
and the transfers of Kubo to Villarreal (2.5).
In the assignment chapter, this Friday the Brahim Díaz was also known to Milan, where he goes in search of minutes (he barely had 206 with Madrid throughout this past year), but without a purchase option.
This is how Reinier went to Dortmund and Vallejo to Granada.
In the coming days it is expected that the departures of James, Mayoral, Reguilón and Mariano will leave
cash
or, failing that, will alleviate the wage bill.
A separate chapter is Gareth Bale, who came down during the concentration with Wales this past Wednesday with a statement in which he accused the club of having slowed down last summer and of making "things very difficult."
His departure would help balance the income statement and avoid a usual nuisance to Zidane.
Although that possibility, right now, is not ripe.
There is still a month of transfer market.