Roma manager Jose Mourinho has reportedly already started looking for alternatives to Ainsley Maitland-Niles as he’s decided he doesn’t want to keep the on-loan Arsenal ace.
Maitland-Niles made the move from the Emirates Stadium to the Stadio Olimpico in January, but he’s not impressed in his time in Italy so far and it looks like his stay will be a short one, according to the Daily Mirror.
The report even claims that Mourinho is already looking at Barcelona’s Sergino Dest as his preferred option to replace Maitland-Niles in the summer, so this will give Arsenal a difficult decision to make in the transfer market.
There will be plenty of Gunners fans who’ll want to see Maitland-Niles given more of a chance in Mikel Arteta’s side, as he’s shown in the past that he can be a decisive performer in big games.
It’s also true, however, that the 24-year-old has repeatedly struggled to win over Arteta, having found himself out of favour for a while now, whilst also failing to impress in a spell on loan at West Brom.
Arsenal decided to keep Maitland-Niles last summer, despite the player making it clear he wanted first-team football, as noted in the Mirror’s report, so it will be interesting to see what decision they come to this time.