Tim Sherwood has warned Dani Ceballos he will be "found out" in the Premier League this season.
The Spaniard has re-joined Arsenal for a second loan spell after impressing under Mikel Arteta towards the end of last season.
But former Tottenham boss Sherwood believes the midfielder is not made for the cut-and-thrust of the English top flight.
He 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 Saka and Aubameyang and 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."
Ozil has been frozen out by Arteta with Arsenal struggling to offload the Germany international.
And Sherwood also believes Arsenal will struggle at the back, despite signing Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba.
Gabriel impressed on his debut last weekend when he scored in the 3-0 opening-day win over Fulham.
But Sherwood added: "For me they are still short defensively. Centre backs, it’s always going to be their problem. They build from the back which is great, some of them can play, some of them can’t defend."
