Mikel Arteta has remained coy over the future of Ainsley Maitland-Niles as the Englishman edges closer to a move away from Arsenal.
Maitland-Niles has been transfer-listed at the Emirates as Arsenal seek to raise funds for transfers.
He has been targeted by several teams recently with Wolves reportedly close to agreeing on a deal to sign him.
Wolves have reportedly tabled a bid of around £15 million for his signature, but it has been turned down because the Gunners want £5 million more (The Sun).
Maitland-Niles played a key role as Arsenal won the FA Cup last season. Arteta always seems to trust him to do a job in key games and that is why fans are wondering why they want to sell him.
Speaking ahead of their match against Liverpool this weekend, Arteta refused to be straight-forward when answering questions on the midfielder moving.
He was asked “Can you bring us up to date on Ainsley Maitland-Niles?” and he said as quoted by Football London:
“Yes, we are reading a lot of news about our players which is not bad that other clubs want him but with Ainsley, he’s a player that I’ve said since I joined that I really like. The best way to show that is that I have played him in the most important games of the season and he responded really well, so that’s where we are with the player.”
When pressed on whether he will allow the Englishman leave, he said:
“I am always open to listening to what the player is feeling at every stage of their career and then I can give them my opinion of how I see them, what I expect from them and if we have the right understanding, then we have to move forward together. If there is something that doesn’t work then we have to assess it with the player and the club and then find the right decision for both of them.”
The fact that Arsenal have also made Bellerin available would indicate that they will,in all liklihood sell which ever player brings in the largest concrete bid and keep the other.
Personally I believe that Bellerin is a “busted flush” and since his injuries has lost his main asset…that of his speed!…AMN on the other hand has indicated that with the right coaching his athletic ability could allow him to become a very good right/wing back.As long as he’s happy to play in that position…because a top quality central midfielder he will never be…
Agreed Joel, i wrote something on the same lines in another article.
👍 👍 Hope you’re right.
@JOEL
Even before Hector’s injury AMN’s recovery time was still much better….IJS
Joel
Agreed
How clearer do you want Arteta to be?
We all know he likes the player, he said so a lot of times and like he said, he has played AMN in a lot of important games. He clearly wants to keep him, the question is will AMN want to stay?
Behind closed doors it’s not so easy that’s why he said he needs to know what the player feels.
What if AMN really wants to leave?
After towards the ending of the season AMN was the one who said he wants to leave so he’ll play more.
We really don’t know if AMN wants to stay either.
It’s something Arteta and Niles will have to sort
That’s it in a nutshell, MA now has more say in transfers, both in and out and I would be really surprised if AMN doesn’t stay.
Perhaps AMN has put his cards on the table and asked MA to give him a promise that he won’t play him as a full back – ever!
Anywhere in midfield, even out wide as in the cup matches, and I think AMN would be absolutely fine.
If MA can’t guarantee that and another team comes along that will, then maybe AMN himself would want to move.
Ken, and isn’t that how it should be; the head coach having a say in what players he keeps, let’s go and brings in to build the team he wants to coach (funds permitting).
At first I thought, this is weird comment, why is Eddie repeating exactly what Arteta said.
Then I remembered the title of the article.
I think AMN is a good utility man for arsenal. Atleast most teams have at most one versatile player to fill important role whenever injuries creep in we’ve seen that with Milner, Oshea, at one point even flamini so I think it would favour MA to have AMN who operates very well under instruction to be available selection as a game changer.
It should be pointed out that within the past 4 weeks, AMN has stated publicly that he is prepared to play “in any position” for Arsenal.Like others I would rather we sold Bellerin than AMN for a number of reasons but principally because he has recently proved himself to be very effective against top class opposition such as, Wolves,Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea.
👍 Grandad, Bellerin should be allowed to pursue his modelling career elsewhere; the catwalks of Paris, Rome, Milan and Madrid are calling.
Ken, and isn’t that how it should be; the head coach having a say in what players he keeps, let’s go and brings in to build the team he wants to coach (funds permitting).
Oops double post!
Absolutely and that is why, ozziegunner, I will defend UE when he is blamed for transfers that have gone wrong.
For MA, it now seems that he has a say in what is happening and he can/will be judged who is let go.