Football journalist Guillem Balague has shared some information on Arsenal’s future transfer plans concerning their on-loan duo of Martin Odegaard and Dani Ceballos.
This comes after Balague uploaded a special Q&A video onto his YouTube channel where he answered a number of transfer-related questions put to him by a variety of social media users.
During the video, Balague was asked whether or not there would be any chance of Arsenal potentially signing Odegaard on a permanent deal when his loan deal at the club expires at the end of the season.
In response, Balague had this to say on the matter.
He said: “The reason why [Odegaard] is going to Arsenal, I don’t know this for certain but it’s logical that Arteta said he will play.
“The second reason, because I think Arsenal will try to talk to Real Madrid about both Odegaard and Ceballos at the end of the season.
“Odegaard has got a plan to go back to Real Madrid, but maybe he feels that another year away will help.”
With Odegaard, Arsenal recently signed the 22-year-old on a loan deal until the end of the current season. Whereas with Ceballos, he joined the north London club on loan back in July 2019 and is expected to return to the Spanish club at the end of the season, just like Odegaard.
Since arriving at Arsenal, Ceballos has made 61 appearances for the Gunners in which he has managed to score two goals and provide three assists along the way (per Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts on Guillem Balague’s comments on Odegaard and Ceballos…
With Ceballos having earned himself a decent season rating of 6.89/10 – the sixth-best rank in the Arsenal squad at present – for his performances in the Premier League so far this term (as per WhoScored), it would be understandable why the club would approach Real Madrid in the summer to try and sign him on a permanent deal, especially with the Spaniard performing at a similar level to last season, which was followed by the Gunners opting to renew his loan last summer.
Do you think Arsenal will sign Ceballos and Odegaard permanently in summer?
Yes
No
However, with Odegaard, he has now until the end of the season to prove himself in an Arsenal shirt and justify the club’s decision to take a chance on him and why they should look at potentially signing him permanently, or at least on another loan deal next year – a scenario which, according to Balague, appears to be plausible.