According to transfer experts Fabrizio Romano and Gianluca Di Marzio, AS Roma will sign Ainsley Maitland-Niles on loan from Arsenal when the transfer window opens in January.
The England international was wanted by Everton in the summer but saw a move to Goodison Park scuppered by Mikel Arteta who felt the versatile midfielder could still be useful this season.
While the 24-year-old featured in five consecutive Premier League matches between late August and early October, and earned praise from the boss in November, he’s barely had a look in since and is known to be frustrated by another prolonged spell on the sidelines.
AS Roma are in advanced talks to sign Ainsley Maitland-Niles on loan with buy option from Arsenal, as confirmed by @DiMarzio. 🔴🤝 #ASRoma #AFC
Negotiations ongoing – talks opened few days ago as reported on last @podcastherewego episode on Thursday. 🇮🇹
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 26, 2021
In allowing Maitland-Niles to leave for Italy at a time when Mo Elneny and Thomas Partey are due to head to the African Cup of Nations, Arsenal would be taking something of a risk although Arteta has indicated that youngster Charlie Patino could get minutes if needed and there is always the chance we could sign a replacement.
Roma, who pursued Granit Xhaka during the summer only to baulk at Arsenal’s asking price, are said to have an option to buy Maitland-Niles in the summer.
The academy graduate is under contract at the Emirates until 2023 so this would be an optimal moment to cash in.
Best of luck in Serie A AMN. Hope Jose doesn’t eat his head.
Unusual timing but his time has been running out this season only a back up level player unfortunately
Why though? Is Elneny better?
Lokonga is the one they’ve put their money on, Elneny will be moving on also i’m guessing.
Still, we might need him over the next month. If it happens I how they wait until the last day.
Elneny accepts his role as a utility man brought on to sure up a game. We knock him for being not at the same level as others but all the best squads were able to rely on such players to get through the travails of a long hard Sunday.
AMN could have made rightback his own last season but kicked up too much of a fuss. Now would never pick him over Tomiyasu Does seem slighty mad with others at the AFCON and i simply cant trust anything linked to Mourinho but otherwise parting of the ways seems inevitable
Would be great experience under his belt.
I don’t trust that worm Mourinho. Unsettle AMN then back out at the last minute. We’ve been here countless times with him before. Demba Ba, Nuri Sahin, Xhaka,
An unlucky player, maybe badly counseled. Best of luck amn.
Poor to let AMN leave and Xhaka stay. Impossible to demand accountability for performance when this is the reward.
Great idea! Sell an international captain and guaranteed starter rather than a player who struggles to make the bench. Shall we also keep Kolasinac and loan out Tierney?
Comparing Tierney to Xhaka is very very funny, but not in the way you think.
Xhaka’s better than AMN atm. AMN may have a higher ceiling but, when fit, Xhaka’s in the starting 11 & AMN’s nowhere close.
It’s also a perfect time to sell AMN given when his contract’s out & his resale value is obvs much higher than Xhaka’s given his age. Pretty standard really.
The fact that Xhaka’s in the starting 11 and AMN is nowhere close is exactly my problem. That is not a performance-based decision. So there’s no point citing that fact in support of itself.
I credit this team, Partey Odegaard and ESR especially, for functioning despite Xhaka.
I’m not at all uncritical of Xhaka, but if you actually watch the games it is pretty clear that–at the moment–he is our best choice beside Partey. As I’ve said before, whatever fans think, there is a reason that every manager (Wenger, Emery, Arteta, and the Swiss coach), despite their different styles, have always started him when he is fit.
Yeah, it’s definitely performance based. At the moment Xhaka’s better at CM. Has been for quite some time.
You may not agree, which is fine, but that doesn’t make you right. I get that you may not like Xhaka but, as you suggested, the decision should probably be at least partly based on performance & importance to the side.
I agree. I guess I just struggle to forget/forgive all the idiotic lapses and red cards, as well as the time he told us to fuck off after taking his sweet ass time coming off in a match we needed to win and in which he was playing like donkey shit. I just don’t understand how that doesn’t completely and irreversibly burn the bridge in a world where Auba’s tardiness, even if habitual, earns him (permanent?) exile. Plus, he could’ve easily gotten a second yellow, like, twice just since his return this month. I don’t mind so much as long… Read more »
What has be done to deserve being sent out to that dinosaur
Why arent we looking to sell though? Seems like we are just being taken advantage of by Roma (and other non paying italian teams).
Appears to be a reported option to purchase. With the financial situation the world is in especially with Italian clubs, loan + permanent option is the way they do business these days.
Well they spent £35m on Tammy Abraham which isn’t a bad signing all things considered, but shows they can pay more than they otherwise let on
Actually looking at their transfers last summer, they spent £112m and recouped 12. They can pay
Italian clubs always plead poverty. You would think a team like Palace would be looking at him. Hope we dont rush this.
Never lquite understand these obligationa or options to buy but hope we would tread carefully eithbthat also. Dont like the sound of what ive hears in relation to Mavrapanos and hope we wouldnt find ourselves in a similar sucj situation here
I’m guessing if this was a summer transfer things would be diffrent.
Also, I would hazard a guess that much of the £112m they spent last summer hasn’t actually been “spent” yet, with it being locked up in structured repayements. So that may not be an indication on how much money they actually have to spend at this moment.
Yes, but whose option? It sounds like it’s theirs.
Won’t we need him at CM in Jan with Partey and Elneny at the AFCON?
Perhaps he will go at the end of January?
Indeed. Could that mean we have a recruit in mind?
Must have if we let him go – Zakaria would be nice but Arthur on loan is more likely
Strange business. We refuse to sell to Everton for good money but hardly use him. Then when there is likely to be a need for him due to ACON we let him go to that monster Mourinho
Everton offered to loan him for the remaining two years on his contract iirc. Don’t think they tried to buy him.
I’d imagine we didn’t want to sell to a rival for the European spots.
When Everton bid for him, we were bottom of the league and Everton were 4th.
90000% bulllshit
Certainly seems like it, I can’t really see any benefit at all to Arsenal to loan out anyone without a definite obligation to buy.
AMN is better in the mid now, when he didn’t even reach half of his potential or had any decent run of games in our team to build up consistency, than Xhaka ever was, and nobody can tell me otherwise.
It really saddens me he is not getting a real chance in our team, but I was hopeful he will either prove his worth here or somewhere in PL on loan, butx2 being sold to The Cuntish One, twirls my stomach to the max. Ughhh. 😖
Lokonga is the future for our midfield not Amn or xhaka
I’m not saying anything about Lokonga, he should be the future, although he is still inexperienced. I’m talking about the now, and the fact our midfield is the worst part of our team since Xhaka joined, and he keeps doing same stupid things and not improving in the slightest, disreapects and lets the club down constantly, and he is still the first name on the teamaheet and even part of the “leaders circle”. At what point do we cut our losses and give up? He had a decent run of form, but players around him break their backs to make… Read more »
If only Xhaka would stop us from winning we could be a winning team.
Xhaka’s sent you spiralling into an existential crises. Which is quite impressive for someone that doesn’t even know you.
My existential crises has nothing to do with Xhaka, it’s the fact i can’t even enjoy trivial things like watching the stupid game. But, anyway, watch as Xhaka costs us points (again) for CL spot (tho some players also cost us points as well like Auba, who is just broken, or the kids, who you kinda expect to do that), and how Roma buys AMN in the summer only to offload him instantly for profit. Oh and, i belive, Xhaka would have been a hit for Roma as well, he is just not suited our team or our league. It… Read more »
I haven’t googled all the gossip so excuse me if I’m completely clueless. But what’s Ramsey’s status in Juventus now? Can Arsenal be looking for a 6 months loan deal there for the midfield spot?
Juve apparently willing to let him go to clear those crazy wages they offered him, don’t think he’s played too much.
Last rumour I heard was to Everton. Can’t see us going back for him personally.
Ainsley must be pushing hard for this transfer for it to be sanctioned before the AFCON starts.
Ghana and Egypt are teams that could go all the way to the final, Partey and Elneny could be gone for over a month.
Lokonga has only played 9 minutes in the last month so could be rusty.
And watching Xhaka today and against Leeds last week, he really does look like a red card waiting to happen. Is he going to be able to control himself at Anfield and WHL in January.
Is AMN too old for Arteta?
I have mixed feelings about AMN. When he’s played in midfield he’s done well, but it always feels like there’s a question mark over his attitude
He’s twice been convinced to stay and then not been played. If I recall correctly, he played well and then was immediately dropped. If he’s not more than a bit part player then moving him on is best for club and player.
I think we’d all have him as a useful squad member but that’s not fair on him…..if he can get fist team football somewhere reasonably high profile, then good luck to the lad !
Lends alot of credence to the reports of us signing Wijnaldum on loan in January. There’s no way we let AMN go along with Elneny and Partey to the AFCON without some kind of cover.
Oh no, I think Wijnaldum is Dutch for Willian!!!!
I think you may be right and could be shrewd move
We should have sold him. We should have bought Neves last summer. Putting him out on loan is a good thing. As mentioned, Xhaka is our best midfielder, Partey, then Sambi really replaces Willock (or Guendouzi) This midfield is too thin. Elneny is decent but not good enough for where we want to be. He is a back up off the bench. We need the depth. I would still consider making a bid for Neves considering we have opportunity to take fourth so this would be an incentive to sign. We will need someone to eventually replace Xhaka a season… Read more »
Can’t disagree with any of that really but doubt Wolves would be willing to sell in Jan for anything less than stupid money. If we go back in for Neves (if we were ever in for him) I think it’ll have to wait til summer.
Would AMN walk into the Roma first 11?
They do play Smalling and Mkhitayran so moving from Arsenal’s bench to Roma’s bench would seem to be a downgrade.
Nice weather but Rome is a dump compared to London. The Vatican is nice though.
It seems such an odd time to be loaning AMN out, I can see a but of logic if it was to sell him to raise cash to improve the team.
From AMN’ point of view, if playing is what he wants why leave now when you are almost guaranteed playing time as we will be depleted during the AFCON?
He will get more games at arsenal than at Roma…besides loaning AMN to Mourinho kinda feels like loaning Gnabry to Pulis it won’t work…
There’s more to the story than we know. Seems to me that AMN never fit “the Arteta/Edu project”. Firstly, he’s incredibly athletic but is a little loose in the pass, and doesn’t have the positional discipline of Xhaka/Partey/Odegaard, etc. Secondly, I kind of get the sense that he’s a bit of a challenging personality. The consistent theme of all the recent signings is that they seem genuinely humble and interested in building a team-first side. Posting on Insta that you want to go, is not consistent with that. Comparing him to Xhaka is unfair to both of them. They’re totally… Read more »
Wouldn’t trust Mourinho to play him. He likes signing players and ostracising them. Surely there’s another English club that would want him. However, all this points towards him leaving permanently in the summer to me. Unless we’re in Europe and he’s given opportunities then. But even still he doesn’t seem to be trusted to play prem games and IF we’re in the Champions League then I don’t see Arteta trusting him in that competition either. It’s a shame because I think he’s better than Elneny and with AFCON surely we need all the midfielders we have given we’ll be losing… Read more »