Although there are examples of rivals in world football who will happily trade between each other, Spurs and Arsenal aren’t on those kind of terms.
The entire situation surrounding Sol Campbell’s move to Arsenal still hurts, while Emmanuel Adebayor wasn’t popular with Arsenal fans when he decided to play for Spurs (admittedly they had reasons to dislike him from his Man City days too)
The rumours about Spurs being interest in Ainsley Maitland-Niles have been swirling for a while, and they’ve resurfaced again as The Daily Mail have indicated that Spurs are now at a point where they will make a move.
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His biggest problem at Arsenal has been his versatility as he ends up filling in for everyone without being able to make any position his own, so it’s interesting to hear that Spurs would use his solely as a right back if the move happens.
It’s suggested that Spurs would be prepared to pay £20m to sign him, and in isolation getting £20m for the player would seem like a good move for Arsenal – if they sold him to literally any other team in the world.
The problem with him going to Spurs is you always run the risk that he suddenly develops into a top class player and they’ve allowed him to go to their biggest rivals for a very reasonable fee.
He’s a good player who clearly has a place in Mikel Arteta’s squad and this move does seem unlikely, but the reports have been going on for so long that you think there must be something in them.