Ainsley Maitland-Niles is edging closer to a move to AS Roma after showdown talks with Mikel Arteta.
The Daily Mail says the Gunners are expected to respond to the Italian club’s offer in the next few hours.
The midfielder had wanted to leave the club in the summer amidst interest from Everton, but Arteta made him stay and promised him regular playing time.
That hasn’t been the case, and he is now looking to join Jose Mourinho in the Italian capital.
The report said he has spoken to his manager after the Serie A club tabled a loan-to-buy offer for his signature and the Gunners are expected to accept it.
Just Arsenal Opinion
Arteta doesn’t think Maitland-Niles is more than a squad member and this shows with his lack of first team opportunities.
The 24-year-old knows he deserves more playing time and will do all he can to get it.
A move to Roma would offer him the chance to play more regularly and to build a career for himself.
The England national team manager Gareth Southgate has not picked him for a long time because of his lack of games, that could change if he leaves the Emirates.
With Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny off to AFCON, his departure could leave a void to be filled at the Emirates.
If AMN is off to Roma, I can only assume we have lined up at least one midfielder to bridge the gap with his departure and the AFCON absentees.
Bruno G from Lyon would be such a fantastic
statement signing from Edu and co. in this
window.
A lot of assets being wasted this season
All on their last 6months
Chambers
Bellerin
Laca
Eddie
On top of players on the naughty step
Auba
Mav
Matteo
Mismanagement at its finest regarding said funds ,but hey the new regime was not going to do this 🤔🙄
we are doing good mate.relax and drink less coffee
These so called “fans” wanted the manager sacked (like Unia Emery) and us relegated with them prefering useless / poor attitude players over the workholics which Mikel has hired. Trying to cover up Wengers bizzare signings – Laca, Eddie, Chambers, Elneny and those whom Mikel chucked out earlier. MG, Mavro were signed by the “diamond eye” and while none of those players are terrorising their opponents in their respective leagues, we have climbed from 20th to 4th at the moment. Player management and coaching at its very best. Give a deaf ear to the naysayers.
(lol)
Bellerin’s contract has another 18 months to go.
I agree with general principle though that we aren’t great at maximising our assets. Having said that, Willock sale is looking like a good bit of business. And fortunately the owner did drop 130m last window so he doesn’t seem put off by a squandered million here or there.
Not fair, I think.
It has been close to 2 years of very difficult market conditions to sell players for a decent fee. A completely different situation, and unfortunately, we have had, and still have, several players who aren’t of neccessary quality. AMN is one of them, IMO.
Unless we’re planning to bring in at least one midfielder prior to offloading AMN it would seem rather irresponsible on our part to even contemplate such a notion…frankly, I’m still not exactly sure what AMN did or didn’t do this time that has left him in this seemingly perpetual doghouse, but this type of problematic circumstance has become a little too commonplace under this management team…based on the available evidence this player was convinced not to leave, when it appeared as if we had a more than reasonable offer on the table, then he was sent out on loan, which by most accounts was a fruitful endeavour, after which he returned back to the fold with some assurances regarding playing time…flash forward to six months later, he’s barely seen the field of play, his market value has taken a bit of a beating in the meantime and now we’re potentially considering a loan-to buy offer from the same nickel-and-dimers who offered 50 cents on the dollar for our underwhelming, thirsty to leave, former captain…if this is the kind of business we’ll be conducting this winter, this should be an rather interesting window
TRVL
Based on available evidence at the time perhaps at the time AMN did have a role to play. Since then, other new players have slotted in and have overtaken him in the pecking order
According to available evidence at the time, AMN could have played at RB but didn’t want to. Sometimes in football there are decisions that have to be made as an up and coming player to secure a first team spot first. It’s possible that he has missed the boat, that’s all and nothing more sinister
I think the term “sinister” is a bit of a stretch, which certainly wasn’t the wording I used when describing the circumstances surrounding the AMN experience…I get why you might have chosen just such a characterization, as many within the Kool-Aid nation would like nothing more than to perpetuate the notion that those whom have posed logical arguments against our current manager are the kind of irrational individuals who could quite easily fall prey to some sort of conspiratorial “rabbit hole” nonsense…btw he’s far from the only “asset” who’s been horribly mismanaged during Arteta’s tenure, so one can’t analyze this in a vacuum, as that would be incredibly disingenuous…on a side note, I have no real affinity towards the player in question, as I think he’s likewise made some poor decisions along the way, regarding his positional resistance and his bouts with “loose lips” syndrome, but none of these missteps excuse the management team for their clear mishandling of this particular asset
Great to read your opinion that AMN who I was particularly referring to rather than all the other mismanaged players under Arteta’s watch has some culpability. I know nothing about Mavro but my experience of MG was sufficient to form an opinion that he was also the master of his own downfall. We see it from different sides TRVL
Having read exactly what Kool Aid is I’m rather glad that has passed me by in dear old Blighty
It could of course be that he is simply not good enough.
Didn’t you say the same about Martinelli not -3-4 months ago Grandad
Possibly.But I have also praised him on numerous occasions, before and since his promotion to the first eleven.
But if we dont get rid of Xhaka, he will keep costing us points that would lift us in top 4.