On 30th July, MARCA exclusively broke the news of Real Madrid's interest in signing Dani Ceballos this summer, in line with the club's new policy of snapping up young talent that spawned the deals for Martin Ødegaard, Marco Asensio and Jesús Vallejo.

On Friday night, radio station COPE's El Partido de las 12 show reported that Real Madrid are set to trigger Ceballos's €12 million release clause over the next few days, sealing his capture before loaning the midfielder back to Betis for the season.

MARCA sources understand that Florentino Pérez and co. remain eager to land Ceballos sooner rather than later. In fact, they are keen to complete the transfer before the second round of La Liga fixtures, which sees Betis visit the Bernabéu, to avoid putting the 19-year-old in an awkward situation.