Maitland-Niles set to quit Arsenal for good, Everton want to sign him
Ainsley Maitland-Niles is set to quit Arsenal for good amid interest from Everton and Southampton, according to the Daily Mail.
The 23-year-old spent the second half of last season on loan at West Brom as they were relegated from the Premier League, earning 15 appearances as he mainly played as a central midfielder.
At Arsenal, the five-times England international is usually played as a wing-back or on the wing on either side of the pitch. However, it seems Maitland-Niles’ preferred role is to play in the centre of the midfield as that’s why he opted to join the Baggies in the winter [Mail].
There are better options
Maitland-Niles is a hard player to judge because it’s very clear that at Arsenal, he’s seen more as a wide player. However, the player himself feels he should play as a central midfielder and even Sam Allardyce thought the same when he was in charge at West Brom.
But for Maitland-Niles, he really struggled to take off at The Hawthorns.
While he had the odd good performance as the Black Country club was relegated, on the whole, he seemed as though he was more effective out wide when Allardyce pushed him into a winger role later on in matches.
Essentially, Maitland-Niles is someone who can do jobs across the pitch but he doesn’t really excel at them.
Thierry Henry once called the England international a “box-to-box” player [ESPN] and while he is, he might not be good enough to be that kind of player for Everton.
We could be wrong and at the end of the day, he is still quite young and may have looked better in a team that wasn’t as bad as West Brom.
But ultimately, we would rather see Marcel Brands – and whoever is the next manager – sign better quality players.
In other Everton news, Ally McCoist and Alan Brazil clashed in a fierce debate over Benitez on talkSPORT this week.
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