Will Maitland-Niles become another one that got away?

Arsenal has made Ainsley Maitland-Niles available for transfer in this window as they seek to raise funds for their transfer targets.

The Englishman is one of the most versatile members of the current Arsenal team that came through the ranks from the club’s academy.

Despite being one of the most consistent performers in the team, the youngster seems to be underrated.

He started as a midfielder, but he has hardly been given the chance to play in that position at senior level.

Instead, he has been used as a utility player who plays as a right-back more often than not.

In their bid to raise some funds, they are looking to make 20 million pounds from his sale, I wonder if that will turn out to be a huge mistake.

Arsenal has been in this position before with the likes of Ismaël Bennacer not being rated at the Emirates, only to leave and become superstars.

Another player, perhaps the biggest player to get away from us is Serge Gnabry and the German has just helped Bayern Munich win the Champions League.

Arteta likes Maitland-Niles and I think that he is a very talented lad who should be given more chances to play for the team because I worry that he will become a star in his next team and make us look foolish again.

An article from Ime

Tags Ainsley Maitland-Niles

25 Comments

  1. I would put him above Willock and Nelson and nketiah for sure all of whom have been given chances in their natural positions and underwhelmed … But we need proven quality in midfield and he might be squeezed out again so if there is a fight for his signature will probably get a decent sum for him .. As far as I can tell gnabry is the only youngster who’s has left and shon real top quality … Anyone else?

    1. What does AMN actually bring to the midfield?
      3 different managers preferred to play him at fullback because they noticed from training that his skill set is better at that position. Even there, he is not first choice. I see this calling for the coach to play him at the middle an emotional consideration.
      Arteta need to be strict like, “play where you can be effective or get sold”. This is not a charity place. Arteta isn’t the only coach to prefer Willock ahead of AMN in the middle. There must be an obvious technical reason for that.

      Let us count on the management team to their job.

      1. Do you even follow Arsenal football club? He played at RB because bellerin was injury prone. And AMN is versatile, if you gave him goalkeeper gloves, I’m sure he’ll put in a fine performance. His best performance in an Arsenal shirt has been the few times he played in midfield. Don’t you watch Arsenal games? And joke of it all is to think willock is actually better than AMN in midfield. Really shows your lack of football knowledge. And because coaches don’t play him there means we didn’t have an alternative till cedric came, he was kept fit just in case bellerin got injured. He’s played as wingback since cedric came and he has done brilliantly. Coaches are not gods that can’t get things wrong anyway. I bet you would have said the same thing about gnabry while he was here.

        1. If the coaches who see him in training don’t see him as a regular player in midfield, where did you get the believe that he deserves to bench those players we play ahead of him? If his best games are when he played in midfield why was he not featured there more?

          He had decision making issues when he played at both fullback positions. That his aggressiveness was utilized especially towards the end of the last season doesn’t mean he is that good there. He couldn’t cross the ball due to his weak left foot.

          We need this club to perform better than the last seasons. We need improvement in the squad, I don’t care who got axed to achieve that aim. Liverpool sold the likes of Sterline, Suarez and Coutinho who ware doing OK for the club. See where that got them today. We are debating about a player who couldn’t nail a starting position for three coaches.

          I wonder why some of our co fans seem to be so used to mediocrity.

        2. He had a good game against Man U in midfield. One game. Name another one where he shone.
          I’m sure the coaches – Wenger, Emery, Arteta have seen more of him to get an idea of his midfield quality.
          All of them cannot be wrong.
          He could still be decent, but decent is not what we need if we can get 20 M…

  2. I think we should do a paid loan , like how we pay RM for Cebellos, lets see him him smash it week in week put at say West Ham , watch his value rise ten fold and hopefully develop into the player we know he has the potential to be.

  3. I think before the Arsenal hierarchy bosses decided to enlist AMN among others for sales in this summer transfer market to raise the funds they badly need to improve on the existing quality delivering in games playing by the Gunners for Arsenal most especially in the Premier League matches, the club’s bosses must have thoroughly done their home work on the issue and considered the pro and the con before taking the final decision to sell AMN this summer. But will the reported £20m transfer sale fee that Arsenal are reported to be asking as a price to sell him not be below his true value on the transfer market? I think Arsenal should not for whatever the necessity is that has necessitated their wanting to sell AMN this summer sell him at a give away price like a second hand article. But in my own estimation, AMN should not be sold less than £30m by Arsenal this summer if they have to sell him. Therefore, the club should be patient to still bid for their time in the transfer market not to rush to sell him at undervalued price.

    By the way, Arsenal wanting to sell AMN to raise funds to sign who? I think Mikel Arteta will still have some £75m summer transfer left to him after paying for the cost of Maglhaes signing to continue doing his summer transfer signings. Which to me should be enough to sign a top quality grade DM @45m Pounds maximum. But I can understand that Arsenal also need to do the signing of a top quality grade play-maker as well this summer. Who could cost the club quit some money to sign. But after signing Willian, Maglhaes, a DM and a midfield creator this summer, could Arsenal go audacious to sign the could be available for signing this summer window Lionel Messi to surprise us Gooners with another mouth watering signing this summer like the club did last summer window when they signed Nicholas Pepe to our surprise? Arsenal could beat Man City and Man Utd to his signing if he becomes available this summer. Arsenal can use gimmick as replacement to Lacazette whom they are proposing to offload this summer.

  4. Yes, AMN is under rated and certainly under valued at £20 million at Arsenal. Utility players of his age and ability are a rare commodity.
    I agree with RW1 that AMN is a better prospect than Willock, Nketiah and Nelson. There are so many players other than AMN and these 3 younger players, who should be sold and removed from the wage bill, prior to even considering AMN.
    Arteta show him some love and ask him to stay.
    Balogun was neglected and he decided to seek playing elsewhere and there are some other talents like Greenwood, who need watching.

    1. Definitely Declan. I see us regretting it big time if we lose him. A midfield trio of Partey, AMN and Aouar/xhaka/ceballos(though I’d rather not see xhaka start), is not a bad idea at all. That midfield will be very balanced and more than capable of controlling any game. Having Willian, Auba/laca and Pepe/Saka ahead of them and a better Rb than bellerin, Gabriel, saliva, Tierney and martinez behind them is a great recipe for Success and title challenge assuming there’s squad depth and the players stay injury free.

  5. Selling Maitland-Niles and Gouendouzi will be the biggest mistake that Arteta will regret one day. How can a club sell youngsters and keep old horses?

  6. The old timers don’t have much worth
    The two Gabriel’s and Saliba are young. Tierney is young and even Bellerin. There has to be a mix of ages imo

    1. SueP, experience is a good trait to have, provided the player has the ability to utilise it. Unfortunately some of the experienced players are not good enough if Arsenal is ambitious to move up the table.
      Without quality in, can anyone see Arsenal finishing better than 6th?

  7. Maitland Niles is a very talented boy, but from our academy, I think only Reiss Nelson and Saka will impact us more if they are sold for our usual peanuts.

    1. Selling AMN for 20mil would be financial suucide. Because we cannot get rid of the shirker and the deadwood, we cant just asset strip this football club to try and cover that and expect this club to flourish.

      1. sorry, cant just cover that by selling potential and keeping the things that are strangling this club.

  8. This guy is a utility player and a good one at that. Check out his performances against Man City and Chelsea in the FA Cup and you will know he is going to be massive when he improves further. You don’t sell a good utility player in case there are injuries in the squad. This is another Gnarbry mistake on our hands.

  9. If Wolves can value him at £15m, what will the likes of Guendouzi fetch???? £5m???

    Very worryingly true. These valuations are going to further expose the gross incompetence of not only the scouts but also the coaches who’ve not given the favourable platforms for players to excel.

  10. I am very much saddened to hear that some of our young talents are being auctioned, after many years of efforts to mould them in to Arsenal footballers, I had the Vision of Brady era of Young talent enriching the Football world for the better.
    I don’t wish to know, Have we managed to throw away Seb Canabry. What an embarrassing situation, Not to be repeated.

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