Fans react to Maitland-Niles’ astonishing Instagram story
Just when you thought that things couldn’t get worse at Arsenal Football Club, Maitland-Niles uploaded an Instagram story.
This case has reached a stage where it can easily be called as a player trying to “force his way out” of the club. Whatever you think of whether the Englishman should have posted that or not, you all might agree on one thing: His relationship with Arsenal is irreparable.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles on Instagram after Arsenal reject Everton’s loan offer for the midfielder #AFC pic.twitter.com/5RwWEQLGd9
— Chris Wheatley (@ChrisWheatley_) August 30, 2021
Personally, I don’t expect Maitland-Niles to stay at the Emirates Stadium. Which sounds strange as they recently declined a loan offer from Premier League rivals Everton. In the hope of keeping him at least till January.
And if he somehow ends up staying, it is beyond my realms of imagination that Mikel Arteta will choose him ever again. Can you imagine the slack he’ll receive if he picks the 24-year-old.
That would tarnish his image to a great extent. Regardless, here’s how the Arsenal fans reacted to Maitland-Niles’ stunning claim.
If Ainsley Maitland-Niles can admit he was wrong and agree to play at fullback, then Mikel Arteta can admit he was wrong & stop playing average players like Callum Chambers and Cédric Soares over him. But that would require a humility and empathy we haven’t yet seen from Arteta.
— Zach Lowy (@ZachLowy) August 30, 2021
Just like with Xhaka, Arsenal have made a U-turn on Maitland-Niles. This club is confused man. They don't even know what they want. No clear plan. Edu Gasper just be smoking cigar and doing guesswork.
— WelBeast (@WelBeast) August 30, 2021
When Unai Emery lost his job,many Arsenal fans knew that he had already lost the dressing room and many including myself wanted him gone.We have now seen Ains Maitland-Niles head to Instagram to state what he wants,i think Mikel has lost the dressing room and deserves a sack NOW!
— Saliba 🔴 🇵🇸 (@SalibaEra_) August 30, 2021
Not sure it’s the most professional thing ever, but Maitland Niles wanted to leave last year and was promised more time in the first team.
Got his head down and is now behind some truly awful players in the pecking order. Hard not to feel some sympathy.
— Frankie Hobbs (@Frankie_Hobbs) August 30, 2021
I watched you boss the FA Cup Final v Chelsea, then the Shield v Liverpool. I watched you earn your first few England caps.
Less than one month later, you were played out of position, dropped for Cedric and sent to relegation-bound WBA.
I stand with you, @MaitlandNiles. pic.twitter.com/uXzB42WgQO
— Av (@aviv_lavi) August 30, 2021
Arteta spiteful streak again. He’d rather tank a game with Soares at right back than forgive Ainsley for demanding a midfield role last summer. Good leadership requires empathy, especially with young players. https://t.co/kgvEZ0oa7N
— Le Grove (@LeGrove) August 30, 2021
What must be happening at the club that this much unprofessional behaviour takes place?
Eventually you have to stop and think that there must be a cause. pic.twitter.com/WWYz1U61ki
— The Gooner Talk (@TheGoonerTalkTv) August 30, 2021
Nonetheless, some Arsenal fans need to chill out a bit. The same fans who were saying that Edu and Arteta are clueless in allowing Maitland Niles to leave on loan. A few hours later, the same bunch were calling out their incompetence for not letting the Englishman depart.
But that also tells you one thing. That is, whatever bad happens increases the scrutiny on Edu and Arteta. And I’ve never seen a manager, or a technical director stay on long-enough after that.
The most intriguing thing of all is Maitland-Niles’ willingness to play solely as a full-back, as reported by David Ornstein.
It seems very perplexing as to why Arteta was playing Calum Chambers and Cedric over the Englishman, despite them being decent at best?
It would be interesting to see how things will pan out in the next few days or maybe even hours.
Yash Bisht
The best right back we’ve got and he’s frozen out.
When AMN played RB he always was OK but not amazing, and he’s not good enough in CM where he wants to play, so I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Maybe if he was a better player he’d be getting what he wants, and I’m sure he gets paid extremely well compared to pretty much anyone that’s reading this.
AMN told MA that he wanted to play “solely” as a full back,he may not be “amazing” but definitely much better than Cedric & Co,lastly why would you keep a player if you’re not going to use him?it may be too late now but we could have used the 20M don’t you think?
As RB he was solid.
Imean that sometimes he was decent, sometimes brilliant and rarely below average.
That already makes him better option what we currently have.
👍
OT: it’s official (Arsenal website) Wilian and Arsenal have reached a mutual agreement, according to some he may not save the club 20M but even if it is ONLY 10M(some on here,would have us believe that in the same situation they’d walk away from 28Mwithout taking a penny imagine that),he should be congratulated for doing the right thing and i wish him the best.
Unfortunately he really only makes sense if we changed our tactical formation, unless he’s willing to play out wide, on the right side of the pitch…would love to have seen him just once as singular DM, ahead of a back 4, against a more possession-based bottom third squad, so that we could release the brakes on our offence and just see how he fared in a lower risk affair…the only real self-inflicted component of this equation is that he should have taken it upon himself to work tirelessly on his passing capabilities
The sole thing killing our club is Arteta’s ego. He has so much ego for a novice. Even Arsene Wenger didn’t have anywhere close to this ego
1. Stubbornly playing bang average players to justify his signings
2. Sending away anyone who dares to challenge him even when they’re the better players while overlooking the wrongs and indiscipline of his own signings
3. Stubbornly sticking to a particular style of play even when the team is loosing
4. Never taking responsibility as he gives too many excuses
5. Signing desperately average players just to have his own signings
If we win our next three matches, he’ll still be here. I prefer we lose to Norwich and Burnley so that him will be fired
2, 3 and 4 are definitely the most problematic traits of our present manager, at least from the 5 you’ve listed…I could of course expand upon this list, but I don’t like responding to a list with another list…keep it coming dgr8xt
As I said in the other post, AMN is never a RB, LB or RWB..
I will personally be disappointed in him if he chooses to accept those roles!!😕
He is a Midfielder with abilities of Yaya Toure, Michael Essien and Wilnajdum..
Arsene Wenger would have turn this Dude into a midfield Beast as he managed to do with Patrick Vieira, Alex Song, Denilson, Abou Diaby..etc..
It’s a Pity that bcos of Mr Clueless and empty-headed, Arteta, we doubt AMN’s talents!!..😒😒
Ahem….denilson?!
I agree completely Akshay. I think Arteta is jealous of good players, players with passion and the willingness to play for the shirt. With him as the manager, our club is destined to fail. The sooner the Board realises this, the better.