What Maitland-Niles’ departure means?
According to some of the top journalists in Europe, Arsenal’s Ainsley Maitland-Niles has a tempting offer from Italian side Roma.
Jose Mourinho apparently wants him at Roma and his team are willing to include a loan with an option to buy for around €10 million.
AS Roma are offering a six-month loan deal for Ainsley Maitland-Niles plus buy option around €10m, José Mourinho wants him. Player’s open to accept. 🏴 #ASRoma #AFC
Negotiations still ongoing with Arsenal to reach the agreement on loan fee, buy option and final price.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 26, 2021
With 18 months left on his current deal, it will only be rational on the part of the North London side to accept the offer. In the end, he’s just a squad player.
With Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny set to take the flight to Africa to participate in AFCON, Mikel Arteta will only have two senior midfielders next month.
🚨 Reports in Ghana say that Thomas Partey will join the Ghana national team in the 2nd of January and will be available to face Manchester City this weekend.
— BFA 🇦🇱 (@FlertBFA) December 27, 2021
However, that is not a problem as Granit Xhaka and summer signing Albert Sambi Lokonga have both impressed this season.
The real problem is a lack of cover for them. Putting Charlie Patino straight in the starting eleven would be naïve.
A better option would be to recall Miguel Azeez, who’s on loan at League One side Portsmouth, and is much further ahead in his development than Patino.
People are also Forgetting we have also have Miguel Azeez! 😍
— I am You (@YesOhYesOhYes1) December 21, 2021
The former has played nine senior games in his career, one for Arsenal and eight for his current club. But the most likely outcome will be Edu trying to bring in a fresh body.
Arsenal have been linked with various names in the past month or so:
Arthur Melo, Juventus
Philippe Coutinho, Barcelona
Mattias Svanberg, Bologna
Denis Zakaria, Borussia Mönchengladbach
After Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Martinelli cemented their place in the first team, Emile Smith Rowe has seen little action.
Mattias Svanberg. Arsenal have been linked with him and he could well be the player chosen to strengthen midfield. A prodigy since his days at Malmö, the 22 year-old Swedish has been very impressive in Serie A. Bologna and Arsenal have a good relationship. pic.twitter.com/QJnTU5jqjv
— Eduardo Hagn (@EduardoHagn) December 27, 2021
Arteta has also been reluctant to play him as a “left number eight,” a position that has been occupied by Xhaka, who’s not necessarily a number eight.
Writer’s view: Bologna’s Svanberg and Juventus’ Arthur Melo are the ones to look out for in the upcoming transfer window.
They both have qualities of a number six as well as number eight and would do Xhaka’s present job with more effectiveness.
However, ruling out the signing of Zakaria would be short-sighted too. The midfielder is out of contract in the summer and Arsenal can acquire him by paying a nominal fee to their German counterparts.
It will be very intriguing to see who the Gunners will end up signing. Or will they?
THE JUST ARSENAL SHOW – Dan Smith has a rant over Arteta and ‘Players Welfare”
Whether or not AMN goes to Rome the sensible, short term solution to me would be to bring in Wjnaldum from PSG on a loan basis.The guy has a proven track record in the EPL, and is still a fine box to box midfielder and a first pick for the Netherlands.With regard to Azeez, having seen him play a full 90 minutes for Portsmouth recently, he is not yet ready for the EPL in my opinion.
Wijnaldum won’t be a bad idea on loan,
Let’s see how January pans out
Wijnaldum is on 300kpw. Why pay that for a bench player?
Zakaria, kessie should be the no1 target,.
If not then surprise us, our summer signing are really doing well.
How about Tim Akinola? Unfortunately, his contract is expiring
All of the below players can fill in….why replace a player that’s NEVER used?? We have bigger issues to deal with
White
Tavares
ESR
Azeez
Patino
Ode
Chambers
Chambers is a good shout for a CDM…does he have pace though?
Maybe other option is Ben White though wouldnt want to stop his partnership with Gabriel … however Holding is a good back up
Agreed
MA really loves AMN , it’s just unfortunate he isn’t good enough and he needs regular playing time.
Roma wants him as full back
Good luck to him
We already have Odegaard, ESR, Partey, Xhaka, Lokonga, El Neny, Patino…too many midfielders as it is without adding more.
What are you talking about? We have basically 5 central midfielders, including AMN, of which two are playing in the AFCON tournament and one is moving to Italy.Forget about Patino who does not yet have the physique for the EPL. Odegaard and ESR are AMs which leaves us with Lokonga and Xhaka in CM.If we do not bring in another CM Arteta may be obliged to use Ben White or Chambers as a DM which may not be a bad thing.
My gut feeling is that Zakaria will end up being with us. Whether that is next summer, as seems more likely, or in January, remains to be seen.
I think it a near certainty that SOME player, possibly two, will arrive, given that AMN seems very likely to leave next month and the AFCON happening(though even AFCON is far from certain as yet, given the Covid situation).
So we turned down 20 million in the summer, to now give him a loan move with an option of 10 million ,who makes these decisions.
Have you evidence to support your claim or are you referring to a press article?
Doesn’t change the fact that everything transfer-related said so far on here, is all speculation as well. Nothing is certain until it is backed by an official statement from the clubs and individuals involved.
Wolves made a bid Grandad. And its 10 mil euros at the minute, Arsenal obviously want more.
Lol