Ainsley Maitland-Niles has got on the wrong side of Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal ace Ainsley Maitland-Niles has fallen out of favour in recent times and it’s not always been obvious why.
However, we might now have our answer, as it seems he’s broken a key rule put into place by Mikel Arteta since he became manager.
According to The Athletic, Maitland-Niles has shown up late to training on a number of occasions – something Arteta has insisted he would not tolerate, and this has led to the 22-year-old falling down the Spaniard’s pecking order.
When recently asked about Maitland-Niles, Arteta said, as quoted by the Mirror: “Ainsley needs to put his head down and work hard. Show me every day in training that he wants it more than anyone else, he wants to play for this club and fight for his place.”
It will be interesting to see if the versatile England Under-21 international can get back into contention again soon, but for now it’s good to see that Arteta is being tough on some of these players.
For too long now it’s seemed like we have been carrying a few passengers in the team, and that discipline is not what it could be.
That no longer seems the case under Arteta, who really seems to have stamped down his authority early on here.