Ainsley Maitland-Niles admits that his future may lie away from Arsenal despite his best efforts in a West Brom shirt to force himself back into Mikel Arteta’s thoughts. Midfielder Maitland-Niles spent the second half of last season on loan at The Hawthorns after completing a transfer deadline day move in the winter window. He made 15 appearances in all.
Ainsley Maitland Niles said: “I want a decision. I want some clarity and then hopefully I can get to work with whoever I need to get to work with. Whether that is finding a new club or whether that is carrying on with my training. I would like some kind of indication of what is happening. Where they [Arsenal] see me. If it works out it works out, if it doesn’t then kiss Arsenal goodbye. It’s been a long journey but a proud one at that. Maybe they still want to do something and things could change. If not, there’s always other teams. You have to get your head around what you might not want to hear and be prepared if that’s the case – be a man about the situation. If it’s not going to work there then there’s always other clubs that will take you and I like to think that I’ve done enough in the Premier League in the last half of the season to have other clubs interested in me.”
Outgoing Albion boss Sam Allardyce spoke very honestly of Maitland-Niles towards the end of the season.
Sam Allardyce said: “He’s given everything he’s got. He came to us, to join the fight, and you must admire that. He came with the idea that he knew that I was going to play him where he wanted to play, where he’s always wanted to – that was in midfield. My words to Ainsley were these – you will play in midfield if you play well and continue to play well in that position. It’ll be up to you whether hold onto that position. I think there is just one thing missing. It’s the same that he and Conor Gallagher need to work on – it’s more goals. They need to score, they need to chip in. They’re up and down, they’re box to box, they can get to the edge of the box and in the box. They can get chances but they need to try and improve their finishing if they can. Every attacking midfield player like those two – and they are young enough to improve that – their willingness and their effort…both of those players will benefit at their young age, a lot from this experience. I was hoping they wouldn’t experience what we’ve experienced, but they will learn an awful lot about themselves and how they must improve their careers and taking this experience and making a positive out of it. Ainsley has done the job we asked him to do, he’s played where he wanted to play, he’s made a big contribution. The one thing missing has been those goals that we ultimately needed.”
Maitland-Niles has already quite clearly outlined how he wants to feature prominently in the centre of midfield in the long-term, despite the fact that in an Arsenal shirt he’s often been deployed at full-back. He can also play on the wing.
Sam Allardyce added: “They’ve [Arsenal] got many talented midfielders and I can see why it’s competitive in there for him, that’s generally why he’s been played at full-back. If I were him, I’d play where the managed picked me, I’d never turn it down because if you’re able to play in a number of positions then you’re going to play a lot more games than if you’ve just got one position and one position only. If the manager is going to select you where he wants to select you – unless it’s in goal! Perhaps you don’t want to be tagged a utility player, but sometimes utility players play more often than other players who want to play in just one position and are stubborn enough to only play in one position.”
