Arsenal face losing another academy product in Ainsley Maitland-Niles with his career at a crossroads
AINSLEY Maitland-Niles is once again peering towards the possibility of an Arsenal exit.
Thursday night’s 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace summed up the 23-year-old’s career with the Gunners in a nutshell.
With little game time under his belt this campaign, Maitland-Niles was thrust into a tough game out of position and out of form before being subbed after 65 minutes.
Pundit and Arsenal legend Alex Scott pointed out: “Maitland-Niles was totally off the pace today. You could see his confidence wasn’t there.
“He didn’t really want to get on the ball and get forward at times.”
Despite already having a wealth of experience in the Premier League and European football since signing his first senior contract with the club in 2014 – not to mention a 90-minute performance in last season’s FA Cup victory – it is clear that all is not well.
Three Arsenal managers have now struggled to pin down a consistent and effective position, with Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery also flicking between several roles across a season to find the right formula.
Maitland-Niles has been clear in stating his desire to move into a central midfield role, but every time has been shunted out to the flanks at right back, wing back or even left back.
There are similarities with the dilemma Arsenal faced with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain before his move to Liverpool in 2017.
Frustration then, for Maitland-Niles will be at an all-time high as he reaches a crucial stage of his career, and it is why he took reports of a £30m offer from Wolves in the summer so seriously.
One man who appreciates his frustrations more than most is ex-Wolves boss Mick McCarthy, who signed the then 18-year-old on loan while at Ipswich for the 2015/16 season.
McCarthy explained: “Myself, Terry Connor [assistant] and our Director of Football Dave Bowman had a great relationship with Arsenal and Arsene Wenger.
“We thought Ainsley would bring something to us, but he ended up lighting the place up.
“He bought into everything we did and was just a lovely guy. We were playing 4-4-2 at the time and he played wide on the right.
“I would walk into the office on a Monday morning and give him a handshake and a hug.”
‘WE CALLED HIM THE WHISPERING DEATH’
The latter stages of his season with the Tractor Boys in the Championship saw him in and out of the team with injuries.
But it ended up being a successful spell having made 32 appearances in all competitions, including his first two senior goals of his career, as Ipswich finished just outside the play-offs.
McCarthy continued: “He was out best wide right player and he had great pace and would go past people.
“Me and Terry would laugh – the joke was that he was like the whispering death. He would creep up alongside players and they wouldn’t know he was coming.
“He would nick the ball of them and they wouldn’t have a clue what happened.
“He got a penalty in one game where he chased a defender back towards his own bye-line and the defender thought he could just let it run.
“Ainsley nipped in so fast that by the time the defender had swung his leg at it, Ainsley was in the way and he won a penalty.”
Since that breakthrough year under McCarthy, the player with so much promise, the player who has been at the club for 17 years, the player Arsene Wenger stoutly believed in, the player who has represented every England age group before making his Three Lions senior debut in September, has so far averaged less than 13 league games a season.
McCarthy explained: “I can see why he would be frustrated at Arsenal. The club have going through a transitional period since Wenger left.
“He is prepared to work hard in whatever position but I think people forget that defending is a skill as well.
“If you’ve played wide right all your career it is not a given you can play further back.
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“To me, he is a much bigger, powerful character now. He has filled out. He can play in a lot of positions but wing back and full back is not one of them.
“I see him playing wide right and coming inside. He is a very good footballer. With us he was always bright and intuitive, and right now he is being played out of position.
“I remember when Matt Doherty went to Tottenham, I saw the rumours of Ainsley going to Wolves and I thought: ‘What a signing that would be.
“To lose Doherty but bring in Ainsley – it would be a no brainer.
“He is one of those lads who has had to bide his time but it seems now to be the coming of his days.”
Whether at Arsenal or elsewhere, those days need to come sooner rather than later, for the sake of Maitland-Niles’ career.