Gabby Agbonlahor believes Ainsley Maitland-Niles still can have an Arsenal career after they denied him the chance to leave the club this summer.
The England international hasn’t been a regular for the Gunners in this campaign and he tried to leave the club during the last few days of the transfer window.
However, Arsenal made him stay and he is set to become an alternative option for Mikel Arteta to utilise.
He has said he wants to play in midfield, however, he is versatile enough to play as a left or right full-back and has been used in those positions by the Gunners.
Arsenal has strengthened their midfield and full-back positions in this transfer window and that will make finding playing opportunities very tricky for him.
However, former Aston Villa striker, Agbonlahor insists he has what it takes to play for the club and if he trains well, he would get his chance.
Agbonlahor told Football Insider: “It depends on how others perform.
“He’ll definitely be back in first-team training.
“If others don’t perform then I’m sure he’ll be given a chance and he’s got to take his chance straight away.
“100 per cent he’s got the quality. Even Maitland-Niles would agree that he’s been inconsistent in his Arsenal career. In one game he will be outstanding, the next game he’ll be quiet.
“He’s got to get that consistency in his game that a lot of the Arsenal side need to do, to be honest.”
These are the decisions that baffle me
Do I rate AMN ? As a back up player yes and would have been a solid RB for the season ,Everton wanted him and he stays then last day of transfer window we sign a RB for a pretty sum of which now leaves us with 3-4 RBS ,now how much game time is he going to get ?
Surely the best course of action would to have got what we could for him as now he takes up a squad place which surely could of been given to young Saliba .
Then we come to the Eddie transfer ,I’ve read that it was because of his salary demands but looking what he earns per season with us does not add up it ,now he is out of contact next season .
So 2 players where we could have got maybe 20-30 million .
Then we come to Xhaka ,Roma wanted him he wanted to go we wanted to sell ,who cares if it was for 14 million ,he needed to be moved on ,now he’s signed a new contract and I’ve seen fans blaming Wenger over the last few days for him being here ,yes maybe for signing him but FFS Arteta has just gave him a new contract .get Real and stop making excuse after excuse for decisions that our taking our club down .
Now we wonder why fans are moaning ,it’s mistake after mistake that as seen us prop up this league .
Bang on correct DK- We turned down £25m from Wolves last season. What a decision that’s now turned out to be.
👍👍 Well said, Dan
You’re assuming he’s a backup RB. The last 5 or so times he’s played, he’s been CM (and done pretty well imo).
Re Squad place, AMN is homegrown, Saliba is not.
Re Nketiah, it’s been widely reported that it was his agent’s fee that stalled the deal. Offer accepted by Arsenal so not much else the club could do there.
Re Xhaka, is it more valuable to have Xhaka in the squad or €14m? I don’t think this is such an easy question to answer. Given his performances at the backend of last season + euros, you’d say keep. Based on this season so far, you’d say sell. Although I agree that a new contract was bonkers.
Spot on!
Well said…don’t try and find logical thinking where there is none.
It’s also nearly impossible to change a person’s mind that is determined to prove that they were right in backing MA so don’t even bother trying mate.
It’s also nearly impossible to change a person’s mind that is determined to prove that they were right in NOT backing MA so I won’t even bother trying mate.
Maitland-Niles have to be patient because Arteta’s stay in Arsenal will come to an end soon. Someone else will come in who might realise better qualities from him. Maitland-Niles played for England under 23 in the midfield, so I dont see any big issue. He should compete with midfielders and whoever comes tops should be given a chance to play there
According to reports,Everton will come back for him with a bid of 14M in January.