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
https://twitter.com/WelBeast/status/1432328919466795010
https://twitter.com/SalibaEra_/status/1432334873952407558
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
https://twitter.com/LeGrove/status/1432343685304406018
https://twitter.com/TheGoonerTalkTv/status/1432330772330000387
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