Ian Wright has urged Arsenal not to sign Dani Ceballos permanently and doubts the midfielder can do anything to change his mind before the end of the season.
Ceballos has spent the last two seasons on loan at Arsenal from Real Madrid. He helped them win the FA Cup final last season, but has struggled to stay consistent this season. It seems unlikely the Gunners will hire him permanently but Mikel Arteta has delayed a decision until the end of the season.
Arteta has lined up Ceballos 60 times with Arsenal. But one person who doesn’t think they should continue to work together is Wright.
The former striker told Premier League Productions (via Metro): “I don’t think we should sign Ceballos. I just don’t think it’s what we need right now.
“I think we are leaving young players who should have a chance against Ceballos.
“If he is going to do something to stay at Arsenal, it would have already been seen.”
By contrast, Ceballos’ Real Madrid loaner Martín Odegaard has made a better impression since joining in January. As such, Wright wants him to stay, but has no faith that the club can pull it off.
He added: “Odegaard is someone I would like to see sign. But at the same time, the people who are going to oversee who comes in and who goes out are sadly the same people who hired someone like Willian for three years.
“Are we going to give those people the power to try to do this review? I do not trust them. It worries me.
“As much as the coach is passionate and the players are working hard, I’m not sure I trust the people in charge trying to make things happen in the summer, to oversee that work. I don’t see them doing it.
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While he doubts those overseeing the rebuild, Wright knows that Arsenal must make major changes to their squad in the upcoming transfer windows. Only then can they get back into the top six.
When asked what they need to add, he said: “Five or six players, easily. With what you’re seeing with the players there right now. For Arsenal to reach a level where we are much better than where we are now, we should be much further away than that with the players we have, there has to be an incredible recruitment for that to happen.
“That is not going to be in a summer that is going to happen. It will take a while to get that level of player for them to start progressing where Arsenal should be. “
Wright wants Willock to stay
Also on the agenda this summer for Arsenal will be deciding what to do with their loaned players.
In predicting his future, Wright said, “You say who is vulnerable, you look at [Lucas] Torreira and [Matteo] Guendouzi, Joe Willock is doing very well in Newcastle, [William] Saliba is also doing well.
“You look at it and think about those players, each one of them less [Konstantinos] Mavropanos who really hasn’t had a chance [and] Saliba, maybe those players should be where they are.
“I wish Joe Willock had a chance, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.”
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