Tim Sherwood: Arsenal midfielder ‘too weak’ for the Premier League
Tim Sherwood explains why he would be playing Mesut Ozil ahead of Dani Ceballos in the Arsenal team
Tim Sherwood has claimed that Dani Ceballos is “too weak” for the Premier League and is tipping the Spaniard to struggle this season.
The Gunners have arranged a deal to keep the midfielder at The Emirates for another season on loan from Real Madrid after his first campaign at the north London club last term.
Ceballos scored two goals in a total of 37 games in all competitions for Arsenal last season and the midfielder will be hoping to improve on that tally this time around under Mikel Arteta.
The 24-year-old came off the bench to play the final 12 minutes of Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Fulham in the Premier League at Craven Cottage last weekend.
However, former Tottenham manager Sherwood believes that Ceballos still has a lot to prove in England and he feels that he is not good enough for the Gunners.
Speaking in an interview quoted by Metro, Sherwood said: “Ceballos in my opinion is average.
“I think he’s too weak for the Premier League and I think he’ll get found out this year.
“I think they need a little bit more guile in there. You need a player in there like Mesut Ozil in that middle of the pitch.
“When teams are scared of the pace of [Bukayo] Saka and [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang and [Alexandre] Lacazette and they want to defend deep where’s the guile where’s the player who is going to open the teams up. Ozil is the man to do that.”
Arsenal are currently preparing for their Premier League clash against West Ham United at The Emirates on Saturday night.
The north London side, who have not won the Premier League title since 2004, are aiming to try and break back into the top four this season after they finished in eighth place and won the FA Cup under Arteta last term.
Arsenal will face Leicester City away from home in the EFL Cup third round on Wednesday night.
