West Ham United are likely to move in for the young Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos, but will have to pay a fee in the range of £18m to £20m.
According to Football.london, Manuel Pellegrini wants to bring a box to box midfielder to East London and West Ham could swoop in for the new face on the market. Liverpool are another club interested in the young midfielder.
Ceballos has played his fair share of minutes (1922) in 34 appearances for Real Madrid across all competitions.
However, with Zinedine Zidane at the helm, it’s very likely that Ceballos’ services won’t be of much use as the club could be heading for a squad overhaul after a disastrous season.
Ceballos would be a good addition to the West Ham midfield
Pellegrini usually sets up his side in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-1-4-1 formation with the team taking a 4-5-1 shape in the defensive phase.
Ceballos mainly plays as an attacking midfielder or a central midfielder, and will bring more creativity to the Hammers midfield, something they lack at the moment.
The midfielder has good passing and dribbling ability, with the former being one of the best attributes in the Spaniard’s arsenal. A system like Pellegrini’s at West Ham could very well exploit the abilities of the young talent, who thrives in attacking and aggressive set-ups on a football pitch as seen in his days with Real Betis earlier.
The Spaniard’s offensive gameplay is as astute as his defensive contributions to the side with his work rate and tackling being key features. For this Hammers side, who defend in large numbers, Ceballos addition to the squad sounds no less than a blessing.
However, like any other young player out there, the Real Madrid midfielder has his own weaknesses. One of them is holding onto the ball for too long, which generally ends up in him getting fouled or losing possession.
Aerial duels, finishing and his crossing in the final third are some other key areas that need to be improved on to if he wants to take his game to the next level.
From an economic point of view, Ceballos is a safe option for the Hammers squad with fairly low wages and with Galacticos trying to get the Spaniard off their books, he can come in for a comparatively cheap price — £18m to £20m — for his age.
Real Madrid tend to include buy-back clauses in their transfers which is another aspect of this deal that might help West Ham. The Hammers can sell Ceballos at almost double the price if he does well, and follow examples of Mariano Diaz and Alvaro Morata in the past.
All in all, it sounds like a good transfer from West Ham’s perspective, and will benefit both the player and the clubs involved at the end of the day.