SL View: Would Madrid trio still be in North London next term? – originally posted on Sportslens.com
Real Madrid trio Dani Ceballos, Martin Odegaard and Gareth Bale are currently on loan in the Premier League with Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur respectively until the end of the season, and they have had varying level of impacts at their current clubs which could determine their futures.
Madrid are not short of quality options within their squad at the moment despite manager Zinedine Zidane’s decision to loan out eight players, and not all of them will be returning to the Santiago Bernabeu next season or anytime soon.
Ceballos has already spent two seasons away from Madrid having been at Arsenal since the start of the 2019-20 season.
The 24-year-old joined the Gunners on a season-long loan in July 2019, ending the campaign with two goals and two assists in 37 appearances across all competitions.
His performances earned him another season-long loan last summer, and while he has weighed in with two assists in 31 appearances thus far, Ceballos has continued to divide opinion among Arsenal fans.
The arrival of Thomas Partey from Atletico Madrid last summer continues to threaten the future of the Spaniard at the North London outfit, and it would not be surprising should they decide against a permanent move at the end of the campaign.
On the other hand, Odegaard could be sealing a permanent switch if he keeps impressing manager Mikel Arteta, and Madrid will likely happily cash in on him given that Zidane does not have a place for him in his starting line-up right now.
The 22-year-old has only featured in 11 games across the Premier League and Europa League for Arsenal since arriving from Madrid in January, but has already scored twice and is starting to form an excellent partnership with Emile Smith Rowe.
Odegaard played a huge role as Arteta secured his first North London derby victory over Tottenham on Sunday, and the Arsenal boss will be pulling out all the stops in order to secure his signature come summer from the look of things.
Madrid are more than keen to get rid of Bale, and with his deal expiring in the summer of 2022, they would be willing to let him go for a cut-price fee at the end of the campaign.
They could even be willing to let him go for free in order to finally get him off their books, but whether Spurs would be keen to pay his £600,000-a-week wages remains to be seen.
The 31-year-old has 10 goals and three assists in 25 games across all competitions for Jose Mourinho’s side thus far, but he has not done enough to become Tottenham’s highest earner, and it will be interesting to see where he spends next season.
In other news, Arsenal and Tottenham both want Barcelona midfielder.