Friday 24 January 2020 13:44, UK
Mikel Arteta says Dani Ceballos has to get fit and fight for his place amid speculation he wants to end his loan at Arsenal.
Ceballos is looking into the possibility of cutting short his spell in London and returning to Real Madrid in a bid to enhance his chances of being selected for Spain's Euro 2020 squad.
Reports in Spain claim Ceballos wants to go back to Madrid and find another club for the rest of the season but Arteta did not confirm he has any plans to allow the midfielder to leave.
"When I joined the club he was having his rehabilitation in Madrid for a month so I haven't seen much of him because he only trained with us a week or 10 days, so it's very early to assess what I can and cannot do with him.
"I heard of all of those things [speculation about a move] but I don't have a comment.
"He needs to get back to fitness and fight for his place. After that, I will make the selection that I feel is best for the team."
Arteta refused to be drawn on his January transfer plans although he did concede the club was light on defenders following the injury to Calum Chambers.
Arsenal have been linked with Bournemouth's Nathan Ake, Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng and Shaktar Donetsk's Mykola Matviyenko.
But Arteta said: "I'm not going to be discussing any transfer links publicly, it's something we talk about internally. When we have some news we will share it with you guys."
Sky Sports will bring you the very latest news from the January transfer market with the return of three shows.
Start your day with Good Morning Transfers at 9am as our team of reporters bring you the latest news and insight. Transfer Talk then follows at midday delivering analysis of the biggest stories. Then join us at 7pm for the definitive round-up of the day's news with The Transfer Show.
Meanwhile, the Transfer Talk podcast will also be back at the turn of the year with more expert analysis from here and across the continent.
And as well as tuning into Sky Sports News, don't miss a thing with our dedicated Transfer Centre blog.
