The ex-Arsenal loanee who could change the way Newcastle United play football this summer

It’s little more than a footnote in a larger article about the future of some of Real Madrid’s players, but Mundo Deportivo’s assertion that Newcastle United are interested in signing former Arsenal loanee Dani Ceballos is still intriguing – and if it’s true, it could mark a significant tactical departure for Eddie Howe and his side.

It’s hard to figure out how much weight there is behind the report. Mundo Deportivo’s latest article cites the British media, but most press outlets here have circled back to earlier stories from the Spanish newspaper themselves. This could be a case of a rumour chasing its own tail with very little substance in the story. But it could just as easily be perfectly true, with Ceballos looking very likely to leave Real in the summer.

Despite playing a substantial role for the Spanish champions elect in the 2022/23, Ceballos has seen his game time diminish considerably this season. A tactical shake-up precipitated by the arrival of Jude Bellingham has left him without a clear-cut place within the team, and as such he has started just one La Liga game. Few expect Ceballos to stay in the Spanish capital much longer.

Ceballos had two solid if unspectacular years on loan in the Premier League with Arsenal, with five assists across 49 league games and no goals – indeed, it’s been five years since Ceballos last scored a league goal for anyone. He’s a classy player with plenty of quality about him, but perhaps lacks some of the cutting edge in the final third that teams look for in an attacking midfielder.

That isn’t to suggest he isn’t good enough to play for Newcastle, at least as a rotation piece. His passing game is excellent, his ball-carrying skills under-rated, and he’s surprisingly effective in a high press, both a little faster and stronger than many people realise. The reason the move would be interesting isn’t because his skill set isn’t up to scratch for a club of Newcastle’s calibre, but because he’s a very different kind of midfielder to the players Howe has made use of so far.

Since getting his feet under the desk at St. James’ Park, Howe has been extremely consistent with his strategic set-up. The midfield is compact, filled with players who get from one end of the pitch to the other quickly and play with speed and verticality – looking to force turnovers in their own half and then either driving forward at pace or trying to supply passes to the front three as quickly as possible.

Players like Joelinton and Bruno Guimarães have exemplified this approach – hard working, strong in defence, and with the stamina and skill to get the ball upfield before the opposition can reset. But Ceballos is a very different proposition.

Ceballos isn’t averse to tracking back per se, but neither is it his first instinct when possession is lost. He tends to look for space in the left-hand channel to receive passes and move the ball on, and while he produces a healthy number of turnovers, they tend to come higher up the pitch.

He’s simply not a box-to-box sort of player in the Bruno or Joelinton mould. He offers space around midfield and the final third and he’s certainly good at taking the ball forward, but surging runs from inside his own defensive area aren’t his speciality. Nor is he a player who sits narrow and allows the full-backs and wingers to offer the width – he looks to get wide himself and provide options, or to work the channels.

So if Howe does sign Ceballos, or at least attempts to do so, it signals a change of direction – or that he sees a square peg that can be chiselled at to fit a round hole with a bit of work. That change of direction may be enforced, of course. There have been numerous reports suggesting that either Bruno or Joelinton – or both – could leave Newcastle this summer. Losing one would make it tricky to maintain the same kind of intensity from the top of the midfield to the bottom. Losing both would make it very difficult indeed.

Signing a player like Ceballos would indicate a shift, perhaps, to a double pivot with a number ten providing a more traditional creative presence up front, someone who can find gaps between the lines and link up play between midfield and attack. Or it could signal a move to a staggered three-man midfield with one holding midfielder and two attacking players, similar to the way Arsenal set up in the first half of the season before Jorginho battled his way back into the side and Kai Havertz was pushed up front.

Either way, it would likely represent a move to a less forceful and more pass-oriented midfield. Last summer, Newcastle were linked with several attacking playmakers along the lines of James Maddison, but ended up heading in a different direction. Perhaps this season’s struggles have made Howe look back at some past plans and wonder if they might have been the right way to go after all.

Or, perhaps, this is just journalists inadvertently picking up each other’s rumours and going back and forth between Spain and the UK without realising that they’re just going over the same ground. Perhaps Howe doesn’t want to change things at all, and perhaps Ceballos to Newcastle is simply another bit of grist in a rumour mill that always needs to find something new. But Ceballos’ time at Real Madrid looks to be running down, and if Newcastle are in the mix this summer, then it might mark a big change in the way the game is played on Tyneside.