Sometimes being too versatile can be a curse for a player, so someone like Ainsley Maitland-Niles is the perfect example.
He can play anywhere in the midfield and he’s often used as an emergency full back on both sides too, so it can’t surprise anyone that he’s struggled to nail down a regular role in the Arsenal team this season.
It’s not clear if Arteta simply doesn’t know how to use him or it could simply be that he doesn’t think he’s good enough to play a regular role in one position, but it looks like he wants to go out on loan.
READ MORE: “Don’t buy these players!” – Arsenal legend makes a plea as he slams the club’s recent recruitment policy
The Mirror have indicated that Maitland-Niles still has ambitions of making England’s squad for the Euro’s in the summer and that’s not going to happen if he keeps going like this, so a temporary exit is seen as his best option.
They go on to say that Gareth Southgate has told him he needs to be playing regularly to keep his place in the squad, and several Premier League clubs are likely to show an interest in making a move.
Wolves are mentioned as a likely destination and it sounds like the player hopes to establish himself as a midfielder going forward, so it will be interesting to see if a move can be sorted before the window shuts.
There is a reason he cant get sufficient games. He is a homeboy so it’s done for the best of the team. Am reliably told he is on £20m/year and you can see his reluctance to leave home to say Wolvehampton to play that infrequent. Wolvehampton is in England but it can feel like you are in Tibet or Mongolia. So I would advise patience coz next season will be 5 months away and a chance to choose where to go.