Having the right attitude as a young player. The Saka/Niles parody by Abel
Having the right attitude is key for every young player.
Both Saka and Maitland-Niles are products of the Hale End and were fastracked into the 1st team due to injury crises. That is about as far as the similarities go.
Today Saka is reportedly earning 300k/wk and is the 1st choice starter in his wing position for Arsenal.
He got here by having the right attitude, not taking himself too seriously, and playing wherever he was asked to play. He always gave his best.
He applied himself when Emery drafted him into the team at left back, due to Tierney injury and Xhaka’s disastrous outing there. He excelled and contributed to attack as well, leading to him being moved into left wing before later being moved into the right wing, which is his favourite position.
Let us juxtapose Maitland-Niles career in Arsenal.
He was a mediocre young midfielder at best and was drafted into RB when we had a crisis and he excelled there. He was also discovered to be able to play LB as well as he plays both feet.
He subsequently insisted on going on loan if he wouldn’t be played in his favourite position. He went on a 6-month loan to West Brom who played him in his favourite position, and he didn’t pull up any trees save for a few decent performances. The team went down as they shipped in too many goals.
Arsenal then bought a right back and left back (Tomiyasu and Tavares) with the latter to deputize for the often-injured Tierney. Niles had no role to play in the team and went out on loan, this time to Roma where he was drafted to RB (same role he had rejected at Arsenal) this time his attitude and poor display relegated him to the bench, and he was returned to us intact after a half-season loan.
He next went off on loan to Southampton to play at RB. A combination of injury and poor displays marred his season as he was unable to displace Kyle Walker-Peters.
Southampton have been relegated and Niles is now out of contract and would likely pitch his tent with a Championship team next season.
Things could have gone differently for him at Arsenal if he had the right attitude.
He could have been a backup to Tomiyasu who is injury prone or a like-for-like back up to Zinchenko, as he also feels at home in midfield and would easily fit into Arteta’s inverted fullback role and be more defensively adept than Zinchenko.
Alas, he will live to rue his poor choices having let a promising top level career slip through his fingers.
Abel
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