When Dani Ceballos met with Mikel Arteta during the January transfer window, he made it clear he was prepared to terminate his loan spell in search of more regular first-team football. A move to Valencia was his preference — and Arsenal were, at one stage, open to accommodating it.



Six weeks later, Ceballos has forced his way into the first-team. Once the January window closed, he threw himself into training. The Athletic understands he was one of the most impressive performers during Arsenal’s warm winter training camp in Dubai, and Arteta’s staff were pleasantly surprised by his invigorated attitude.



The industry standard for season-long loan deals is to terminate on June 30th. Whether that will be sufficient for Ceballos to stay with Arsenal until the end of their domestic campaign is one of the many questions players and clubs will be contemplating in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.



Come the end of the season — whenever that...