Everton target Maitland-Niles in talks over Arsenal future
Everton have been put on alert as Arsenal utility man Ainsley Maitland-Niles is set to enter crunch talks over his future at the Emirates, according to The Mirror journalist John Cross.
The Englishman is set to meet with Arsenal officials about his next move next week. He is still open to leaving North London if reassurances of game time are not met.
Serie A side Roma are reportedly posing a threat to Everton’s chances as well with the Italian side closely monitoring the situation.
Second Time Lucky?
The Toffees were interested in Maitland-Niles last summer and had made an official bid for the midfielder but Arsenal rejected the approach with Mikel Arteta intending on using him this season.
This, however, did not materialise and Maitland-Niles has again been left with very little game time so far in the 2021/22 season and his patience is wearing thin.
If the decision is made to sell Maitland-Niles, Everton will have to offer a very lucrative deal to overcome Roma’s intentions with former England youth teammate Tammy Abraham loving life in the Italian capital.
The new lease of life that English players seem to gain from moving abroad could be an intriguing proposition that Maitland-Niles is keen to follow up on given the successes of players a similar age to him.
Marcus Edwards, Kieran Trippier and Abraham are just three of the English stars currently flourishing and that doesn’t include the likes of Jadon Sancho who have returned to the Premier League have thrived in Europe.
For Maitland-Niles to make a move though, he needs guarantees of regular first-team football, and not just off the bench either.
The ability to play as a wing-back as well as in central midfield makes him a useful player to have but he has to start playing games for the sake of his career.
In other Everton news, Rafael Benitez has taken over contract talks of this Evertonian wonderkid.