Footie Central | Football Blog Blogging the football world
Arsenal have been priced out of a move to sign Dani Ceballos on a permanent basis.
The Spanish midfielder joined the Gunners on a season long loan from Real Madrid last summer, but that deal did not include an option to buy.
There were some thoughts that they wanted to make the move permanent, but they have now been told by the La Liga side that it would cost them €50 million (£43.5 million) to do so.
That is now out of their price range, with the club, like others in the Premier League, having to tighten their belts because of the coronavirus outbreak. Last week Arsenal became the first side in the Premier League to agree a salary cut with their players, and they have already indicated that their transfer business will focus on out of contract players and swap deals.
Ceballos has previously indicated that he favours a return to Real, whilst admitting he has not spoken to manager Zinedine Zidane all season.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.