Dani Ceballos made his competitive Arsenal debut on Sunday, replacing youngster Joe Willock just after the hour mark.
The Spaniard touched the ball 29 times in the closing stages, completing 82% of his 27 attempted passes (Whoscored.com) as the Gunners sealed an impressive 1-0 win over Newcastle.
Following the match, many Arsenal fans were quick to take to social media to praise the midfielder following his debut, with plenty picking out his cheeky interception late on with Newcastle looking to take a quick goal kick.
Twitter: Ceballos is an intelligent footballer like Ramsey (@vp_afc)
Twitter: Love Ceballos enthusiasm. Could be a big personality for us this season in a team without many vocal characters. (@Volumiser_AFC)
Twitter: Ceballos, Pepe and Martinelli all came on to make their PL debuts. Dani done okay, a good and agressive technical p… https://t.co/sILYVln5Td (@cdavison_afc)
Twitter: Great result. Very good 2nd half. Kudos to Auba, AMN, Guendouzi and Willockalso good. And our CBs did well – Cham… https://t.co/3F8hEf0ytp (@WorldwideAFC)
Meanwhile, some Tottenham supporters weren’t so complimentary towards the youngster, who almost joined Mauricio Pochettino’s side before deciding to link up with Unai Emery at the Emirates.
Twitter: Ceballos has been awful since coming on (@SpursD22)
Twitter: @Arsenal @Joewillock Ceballos is so bad and you talk about ndombele smh
(@KeonSimmons6)
Read Arsenal verdict
The negative feedback from Spurs supporters was to be expected following recent events, even if he bagged a hat-trick on his debut. However, in terms of performance, Ceballos had a mixed afternoon at St James’ Park.
The Spaniard looked promising in parts but did give the ball away cheaply on a few occasions, and it feels like he needs plenty of time to get up to full speed in the Premier League.
His late efforts to stop Newcastle taking a goal kick went down extremely well with Arsenal fans, and if he did that against Spurs in a North London derby, he’d probably go down as a Gunners great.
Ceballos will be hoping for an improvement in his game (and the English weather) in the coming weeks, but first glimpses have shown that the youngster certainly has the ability to succeed in England.
