Arsenal journalist Charles Watts has been sharing his criticism for Gunners midfielder Dani Ceballos and his performance during the north London club’s recent 2-1 defeat against Villarreal in the semi-final first leg of the Europa League.
This comes after Watts uploaded a video onto his YouTube channel where he spoke about a range of topics concerning Mikel Arteta’s side, including their defeat against Villarreal.
On the subject of Ceballos, who was sent off during the second half of the match after he picked up a second yellow card, Watts had this to say about the player.
He said: “He’s having a poor time of it at the moment. I think everyone’s just waiting for this loan spell to end now, for the season to end and for Dani to go back to [Real] Madrid.
“He had a really strong end to the season last season but it’s the complete opposite this season. He’s really struggling, struggled again [against Villarreal], really exposed for his lack of pace and movement in central midfield, got himself sent off stupidly.”
Arsenal originally signed Ceballos on a season-long loan deal from Spanish side Real Madrid back in July 2019 before securing him on another loan deal during the previous summer window.
Overall, the 24-year-old, who is currently valued at £27 million, has made 75 appearances for Arsenal across all competitions in which he has managed to score two goals and provide five assists in the process (per Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts on Charles Watts’ comments on Ceballos…
Given how Ceballos got himself sent off in the midweek game and ended up getting the lowest match rating of any Arsenal player that made an appearance in the game with 5.13/10, it’s easy to see why Watts feels let down by the Spaniard and that he probably won’t have a future at the club beyond his current loan deal.
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Moving forward, Ceballos will need to take any opportunity he gets on the pitch before the end of the season to prove to Arteta and the Arsenal fans that he has what it takes to be a consistent and reliable performer for the club if he wants to make his stay at the club permanent, in our view.
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