Mikel Arteta has made it clear he likes Ainsley Maitland-Niles, and says the fact he picked him in some of the most important games this season demonstrates his faith in him.
The 22 year old started the FA Cup semi-final against Man City and the final against Chelsea, helping the Gunners secure a record 14th tournament win.
However, there have been question marks over his future, because he changed his agent – often a sign there’s something brewing – and this week Arsenal rejected an offer from Wolves for the Academy graduate.
“We are reading a lot of news about our players which is not bad that other clubs want him but with Ainsley, he’s a player that I’ve said since I joined that I really like,” said Arteta.
“The best way to show that is that I have played him in the most important games of the season and he responded really well, so that’s where we are with the player.”
Nevertheless, what Arteta wants and what the player himself might want could differ, and the Spaniard hinted that there might be behind the scenes issues to discuss.
“I am always open to listening to what the player is feeling at every stage of their career,” he continued.
“Then I can give them my opinion of how I see them, what I expect from them and if we have the right understanding, then we have to move forward together.
“If there is something that doesn’t work then we have to assess it with the player and the club and then find the right decision for both of them.”
It does sound a little as if he’s trying to convince Maitland-Niles his future lies in North London, but who knows what assurances and offers he has from elsewhere.
Those things, unfortunately, are out of our hands.
I am still hoping he can stay despite the rumor.
Though I can understand if he wants to play more regular football elsewhere.
Yeah, have a feeling this one is just a matter of time — perhaps once Sp*rs take Doherty from Wolves, Wolves will come in more suitably for AMN (still under appreciated, in my opinion, but what do I know). I think we’re going to see a lot of faces through the departure gate before October 6, but as many have pointed out here and elsewhere, it is going to be a sluggish transfer window as everyone, aside from Chelsea, negotiates the lowest fee possible.
It’s really bizarre how we keep talking about how Arteta has become much more like a manager yet treat transfers as if they’re forced upon him. Arteta is doing the smart thing and publicly supporting pretty much everyone even players like Gendouzzi he clearly would like to leave which gives us a better chance of getting a good fee. I’m sure Arteta likes AMN but the trade off is if we keep him then rebuilding the midfield is going to have to come via selling someone else – really not clear who those players are
You don’t start talking big bollocks less than a year into your job, regardless of how much power you have.
Torreira, mainly. Unfortunately, Ozil is too expensive to sell at the moment.
It’s foolish to get rid of him when they need midfielders. They are talking about signing Diawara from Roma for $27m. I think AMN could play the same position and not cost them a transfer fee. AMN has played midfield and should be given a chance at that position.
Yeah but if the player wants out then that’s that
That likely tells you that Arteta doesn’t rate AMN as a starting quality midfielder.
If AMN wants to play centre mid I think there’s a strong argument for keeping him, but last I checked he saw himself as a winger? That’s harder to sell.
Mate, “they” are going on about us signing every Tom, dick, and Harry that’s ever kicked a football. It’s silly season. Best not get too carried away until an actual announcement from the club.
Diawara… ??♀️, who the fuck knows!? Just reports and speculations.
AMN’s best performances for us have been at wingback. He was played briefly in CM but did not perform as well. The real issue is if any of the rumours surrounding Bellerin are true. If so, we shouldn’t sell AMN
I genuinely think he wants AMN to stay but with Elneny and Guendouzi I think he’s doing a “reverse Emery”, i.e talking up players he wants to sell, a technique frequently used by salesmen.
Thought the same thing myself.
We should really upgrade our corporate team now that we’ve gotten rid of the slimeball raul. How is ut that chillwell goes for 50 mil and AMN is for 20? AMN should be 35-40 minimum with his english premium.
He’s had an equal number of bad games on the past as he has good. Needs more consistency. Saka martinelli have shown that. Maitland needs a whole season.
Because Chilwell is England’s first-choice left back. It doesn’t matter if you’re good or average, the full England international tag adds 10-20m to your price.
I honestly can’t imagine why someone is disliking this. This is true for all the other national teams too
But Bissaka also went for 50mil without being called up to the England team yet.
Pre-Covid
Something that was written on Arseblog yesterday made a lot of sense. There’s no big 6 club involved. Wolves will never pay 50m. Add to that, everyone knew what they were getting with Wan-Bissaka: a right back who’d put in good performances consistently throughout the season. No doubt, AMN has potential, but nobody seems to know his best position. That seems to be going against us in terms of negotiating a better price.
The season fixtures look as thought they are going to be really congested. I would have thought that all teams are going to have to rotate squads heavily to make sure that all squad members stay fit, as much as possible, for the whole season.
For me AMN will get loads of game time and hopefully where he wants but his versatility is going to be just as useful as someone who has a relatively fixed position.
In the longer term that can only benefit his overall game.
Let’s hope Arteta convinces him that the future is Gunners red
I’d love him to stay and become basically our Ji Sung Park
Schedule going to be more hectic and therefore we need a bigger squad to rotate to avoid injuries. Ains can play 3-4 positions. We need to keep him.
Also i think nobody considered the possibility of injuries through magpies with no proper bird catcher around.
I’m sure that all these things are true:
Raulis happy that by saying nice things keeps AMN’s value higher to ‘prise’ him from usIt is also true I didn’t know who to put in place of Raul for who-is-happy-we-sell-well.
Probably sold. He came in last couple of matches and gave a decent account of himself put himself in good frame in shop window. I suspect its between him or Kolasinac whomever fetches the better price bc there isn’t as much between them as surrogate to Tierney. But we won’t be selling Bellerin unless we are completely daft. AMN I mentioned many times best position for us is at fullback/wingback. Midfield was a risky proposition at best bc of his slack concentration but many preferred again to believe otherwise with this nonsene about “Natural position” without regard to fact he… Read more »
You didn’t mention Aouar as your ultimate midfield player for once in months. What happened? I guess you will also like Campos from Lille as Raul’s replacement.
What are your views on Mustafi? Ever feel like he’s unfairly criticised?
“but many preferred again to believe otherwise”
Santori, taking out the straw man. Bravo.
The big question is: is the midfield good enough to compete for the title at the moment? No! So we need to buy 1 or 2 and that will raise the game of all those around because the players we do have, are full of potential. So do we cash in on 1 or 2 players? Or keep a bloated team because we like the sight of their face.
AMN is the sort of player that needs to feel wanted with the arm round his shoulders, rather than beaten with a stick like Guendozi. I hope Arteta can convince him that he is an important squad member and that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side from Arsenal.
I hope he stays, we’ve got a lot of games coming up and he’s just coming right, he’ll get plenty of game time.
I hope he stays, but this also seems like a negotiation tactic. If you want him, you have to pay his going rate. Could go either way
Drive up the price. Nice
We want to sell a player Mustafi, and he is down valued at 0 pence. We want to keep a player like AMN, but he is also down valued at 0 pence
When will be get our Jordan Ibe, talentless player who sells for 20mn, without playing for first team.