Dani Ceballos showed with his man of the match display against Burnley on Saturday that Arsenal now have a player in their ranks who can do nearly everything.
The Spaniard is an all-action midfielder, something that manager Unai Emery talked about following the 2-1 win at home against the Clarets at the weekend:
“With him, it’s about using his quality in the best position. I spoke with him before he came here, it’s to play as an 8 & as a 10. Today, he started like a 10 but also changed with Willock in the 8 position. It’s where he can feel better on the pitch.”
With his passing and creativity, some supporters may have been expecting him to play in the most advanced role in midfield, much like Aaron Ramsey, but Ceballos has other aspects of his game that means he can play deeper and be more effective when out of possession than the Welshman.
If we look at the Spanish international’s statistics from the start of last season, two things stand out. He recovers the ball far more than the likes of Ramsey, Mesut Ozil and even Joe Willock, but he also loves to intercept the ball.
He has averaged 3.4 interceptions per 90 minutes over the past year, according to Wyscout. Compare that to Ramsey (2.18) and Ozil (1.38), and you can see a sizeable difference in these players’ characteristics.
A similar disparity is shown in their number of recoveries per 90 minutes. Ceballos recovers the ball, on average, 7.44 times per 90, compared to Ramsey’s 2.2 and Willock’s 1.9.
This high work rate means Emery can employ him as a number 8, alongside the likes of Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi who excel in those parts of the game.
Unlike those defensive midfielders, though, Ceballos is equally capable in the final third of the pitch. He is extremely consistent with his passing (90.34% of his forward passes have found a teammate over the past year), that his 15% higher than Ramsey and 4% more accurate than the Gunners’ next best passer in midfield, Ozil.
In terms of creativity, it must be said that the Spaniard does trail Ramsey. He even averages fewer assists per 90 minutes (0.04) than Torreira (0.05), Guendouzi (0.05) and Xhaka (0.12) since the beginning of the 2018/19 campaign. It is something he will need to work on despite his two assists at the weekend.
Ceballos is, though, superior in terms of key passes (0.41) per 90 minutes compared to the Gunners’ current crop of midfielders, with the important exception of Ozil (0.67). Ramsey was also more effective on this metric (0.61).
Even so, it’s clear to see that the 23-year-old can offer Emery something that his other midfield options cannot: flexibility. You can guarantee that the Spaniard will be playing pretty regularly this season simply because of the multi-faceted nature of his game.