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Real Madrid and Arsenal are close to agreeing to another one-season loan for Dani Ceballos, sources told ESPN.
The 24-year-old midfielder had made no secret of his desire to rejoin Mikel Arteta’s team after a successful debut season in North London.
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Ceballos has already reached an agreement with Arsenal, and the two clubs are expected to complete the move shortly.
The deal will not include an option to sign permanently, and the finances for the move, which have proven difficult given Arsenal’s situation, are now being finalized.
Ceballos impressed in the second half of the 2019-20 Premier League season, ending the campaign with 24 league appearances and beginning in the FA Cup final against Chelsea last month.
Coach Arteta has been in regular contact with Ceballos in recent weeks and that relationship is understood to be key to the player’s decision to return to Emirates, as well as his friendship with various Arsenal teammates.
“We have had some conversations and Dani knows very well what I think of him,” Arteta said recently. “He made it quite clear to me that his intention was to stay with us.
“He is a player that interests us because we really saw, in the last months of the season, what he is capable of contributing to us.”
By contrast, Ceballos’s relationship with Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has always been more difficult, as ESPN reported last month.
The midfielder began preseason training with Madrid on Monday, but is now expected to fly to London soon to join Arsenal ahead of the new Premier League season.
