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Dani Ceballos to Snub Arsenal in Favour of Real Betis Return

By Ross Kennerley

Ceballos, eventually, won over supporters in north London
Ceballos, eventually, won over supporters in north London / Catherine Ivill/Getty Images
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Dani Ceballos has asked Real Madrid to leave the club this summer, and prefers a return to Real Betis rather than to Arsenal.

The Spaniard spent the 2019/20 season on loan at Arsenal, struggling to make a serious impact at first but finishing the campaign in fine form en route to winning the FA Cup.

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????Muchas gracias a todos por las felicitaciones! Ha sido un año diferente, muy extraño. Pero un año más, del que tendremos que aprender muchas cosas, sobre todo a valorar las realmente importantes. Gracias a mi familia, a mi novia María y a mis amigos por estar siempre ahí. Y mucha salud y fuerza para todos. Saldremos de todo esto juntos. ??GRACIAS?? ????Thank you all so much for the congratulations! It has been quite a different year, very strange. But another year we will have to learn a lot of, especially appreciating the really important things. Thanks to my family, my girlfriend María and my friends for being always there. I wish you all health and strength. We will make it together. ?? #24Cumpleaños #24Birthday #Gracias #Thanks

A post shared by Daniel Ceballos Fernandez (@danifuli10) on

Mikel Arteta recently spoke of his desire to retain the midfielder in some capacity, even stating that the 24-year-old had indicated his wish was to come back to north London for the coming campaign.

He said: "Well, we have some talks and Dani knows really well what I think about him. He was pretty clear with me as well that his intention was to remain with us but obviously Real Madrid is involved and I don’t know yet what they want to do with the player."

However, as per Mundo Deportivo, Ceballos has asked to be allowed to leave Madrid and move back to the side he played for prior to joining Los Blancos. The midfielder had been with Betis in some capacity for six years before moving to the Santiago Bernabeu in 2017 for a fee of €18m.

Zinedine Zidane has other options heading into next season, with Ceballos fearing he will be left to warm the bench in La Liga, thus prompting him to act in order to boost his chances of making Spain's European Championship squad.

Ceballos finished the season strongly with Arsenal
Ceballos finished the season strongly with Arsenal / Pool/Getty Images

With the transfer window not closing until 5 October, Mundo Deportivo add that Ceballos' future isn't likely to be sorted out until nearer the deadline as Betis need to sell before they can buy.

The news will come as a blow to Arteta's Arsenal, who had been working behind the scenes to bring him back to the Emirates Stadium.

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