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Aston Villa are reportedly willing to pay €15 million to sign Real Madrid's Dani Ceballos this summer.
Ceballos signed a new four-year contract at the Santiago Bernabeu in June but he could be set for an exit this summer itself. According to El Nacional, Unai Emery is keen to have him at Aston Villa next season.
The Spanish tactician worked with the Andalusian midfielder at Arsenal, when he joined them on a two-year loan spell in 2019. Since then, he has failed to make himself a regular starter for Los Blancos.
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Ceballos made 46 appearances across competitions last season but 26 of those came from the bench. He has registered a total of six goals and 12 assists in 120 games for Real Madrid since joining them from Real Betis in 2017 for €16.5 million.
Aston Villa can offer him European football next season, albeit in the UEFA Europa Conference League. The Villans sold Marvelous Nakamba to Luton Town earlier this summer but have added significant quality in central midfield by signing Youri Tielemans as a free agent from Leicester City.
Emery has already added one of his former players — Pau Torres from Villarreal — earlier this summer. It remains to be seen if Ceballos (26) will join his compatriots at Villa Park in the coming weeks.
Kaka backs Jude Bellingham to shine at Real Madrid
Jude Bellingham is expected to be a major hurdle in Dani Ceballos' path towards getting meaningful playing time at Real Madrid.
Los Blancos renewed Toni Kroos and Luka Modric's contracts by another year and have Federico Valverde, Aurelien Tchouameni and Edouard Camavinga in that position. To add to that, they spent €103 million to sign Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund this summer.
Given the fee and the English superstar's reputation, he is expected to be a regular starter in Carlo Ancelotti's team. Brazilian legend Kaka has also backed him to succeed in Spain.
Speaking while visiting Real Madrid's camp in Orland earlier this week, the former Los Merengues midfielder told Real Madrid TV, via Mundo Deportivo (h/t Madrid Universal):
"I love it. He is a very young player and has impressive qualities. He is very modern and physically very strong. He is always very well-positioned on the field and gets very close to the goal. He will give the fans a lot of joy."
The 20-year-old has featured in all four of his team's pre-season friendlies so far. Fans can expect to see him make his professional debut for the club in their La Liga opener against Athletic Bilbao on 12 August.
