Why Arsenal should go ahead and sell Ainsley Maitland-Niles

According to a report from The Athletic, Arsenal could be ready to sell academy graduate Ainsley Maitland-Niles in the summer transfer window.

Maitland-Niles is a product of the Arsenal youth academy. The versatile star has been with the Gunners since he was six years old. The 22-year-old made his first-team debut for the North London giants in December 2014 in a Premier League clash against Newcastle United.

Since then, he has featured 91 times in total for Arsenal, scoring three goals and setting up five more.

Arsenal, meanwhile, have endured a difficult 2019/20 campaign. After a poor start to the season, the club fired Unai Emery, bringing in Mikel Arteta to steady the ship. The Spaniard has done a solid job so far, with Arsenal losing just two of their 15 matches under him.

However, Arsenal are still 9th in the Premier League table, having won just nine of their 28 games. This would mean they stand a chance of missing out on any form of European football for next season. Such an occurrence, along with the coronavirus crisis, would mean that Arsenal’s finances could be severely depleted heading into the summer.

Arsenal need to sell in order to buy

But given their standing and performances this season, it goes without saying that Arteta is need of strengthening the squad. And in order to generate requisite funds, it makes sense that Arsenal would be looking to offload some of their fringe players – Maitland-Niles being one of them.

The 22-year-old was heavily involved in the last two seasons under Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery. Furthermore, he saw plenty of game time early in the 2019/20 season under Emery. But that has changed since Arteta took over.

Maitland-Niles started Arteta’s first 5 Premier League matches in charge but hasn’t featured in their last five. In fact, he hasn’t made the matchday squad for the last four outings. This clearly indicates that the versatile right-back is hardly a part of the plans under Arteta.

In Hector Bellerin and Calum Chambers, they have two more right-backs. Furthermore, Cedric Soares was also brought in loan in January. The Portuguese will be available on a free transfer at the end of the season, with his contract at Southampton expiring and Arsenal could make his signing permanent.

Given the options available and his diminishing importance under Arteta, Arsenal would be better off selling the £35k-a-week Maitland-Niles in order to generate transfer funds.

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Verdict

Maitland-Niles had not been a regular in the team prior to season suspension. With Bellerin and Chambers available, along with the possibility of signing Cedric permanently, Arsenal have ample options at right-back. Hence, offloading the 22-year-old would be a prudent move as it would also help them generate funds needed to strengthen their squad.