"I'm constantly fighting my own body": The Private Agony of Real Madrid's Forgotten Star | OneFootball

Injuries, setbacks and bad timing .. the story behind career stuck in restart mode

"I'm constantly fighting my own body": The Private Agony of Real Madrid's Forgotten Star

Since joining Real Madrid in the summer of 2017 Dani Ceballos was supposed to become 1 of Spain’s most complete midfielders , a blend of technique, vision and creativity that could define Los Blancos future.

Instead eight year later, the 28 year old’s career feels like loop of promise interrupted , a talent trapped in endless cycle of injuries, recovery and new beginnings.

A Career Overshadowed by Injuries

From his very 1st season at the Santiago Bernabeu, Ceballos momentum was repeatedly broken by physical setbacks.

After 2 underwhelming campaign under Zinedine Zidane, he found temporary resurgence during loan spell at Arsenal thriving under Unai Emery but even then, consistency eluded him.

The turning point came at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics when brutal tackle by Taher Mohamed in Spain’s opener against Egypt left him with severe ankle injury.

That moment set the tone for years of frustration. Between 2021 and 2024, Ceballos missed significant stretches of every season, never managing to string together sustained run of form.

A Season That Never Starts

Even when he did recover, new problems followed. In Jul 2023 , a hamstring injury ruled him out of Real Madrid’s pre season in the U.S just as he was preparing to compete with new signing Jude Bellingham for starting place.

He returned briefly in late September playing half hour against Las Palmas and featuring in three more matches but another setback derailed his momentum.

By the end of the 2023 /24 season, he'd played just 864 minute across 27 game with 0 appearance from the Champions League Round of 16 onward.

More than Physical

The constant fight to regain fitness's inevitably taken mental toll on Ceballos as well. His career which Marca recently described as "continuous battle against time & misfortune" has been as much psychological challenge as physical one.

This strain was evident in recent conversation with Santi Cazorla where Ceballos reportedly admitted how difficult it has been to constantly fight his own body even while maintaining his well known professionalism.