Ainsley Maitland-Niles is not a happy man at Arsenal football club. His unhappiness is not because the club is currently sitting at the bottom of the Premier League table but because he wants to leave the club.
Recall that the 24-year-old English midfielder spent the second half of the 2020-2021 season on loan at West Brom because he could not play regularly under coach Mikel Arteta.
After he sealed the loan move in February 2020, Ainsley Maitland-Niles said it was better for him to join a team like West Brom instead of “rotting away” on Arsenal’s bench.
When Maitland-Niles returned to the Emirates ahead of this season, he thought the coach would give him more playing time so that he could have a better chance to return into coach Gareth Southgate‘s England national team squad.
Unfortunately for him, he has not been used in any Premier League game so far this season. Hence, he has been urging the club to allow him to join another club this summer.
Though he is currently not in the plans of coach Mikel Arteta, Arsenal are reportedly not ready to sell Ainsley Maitland-Niles who still has two years left on his contract with the club.
Due to his desire to leave the club to get more playing time elsewhere, Ainsley Maitland-Niles held a meeting with Arsenal on Monday, August 30, to discuss his future. Reports in England confirmed that the meeting did not go in favor of the out of favor England international.
Later that day, Maitland-Niles decided to take to his Instagram story to send a message to Arsenal about his desire to leave the club.
He wrote: “All I wanna do is go where I’m wanted and where I’m gonna play @arsenal”, with three crying emojis.
Throughout this summer transfer window, Everton have been the major club that has shown interest in signing Ainsley Maitland-Niles from Arsenal.
Reports say when Arsenal were not ready to sell the English midfielder to Everton, the Merseyside club tried to convince Arsenal to allow the player to join them on loan.
Yet, Arsenal reportedly refused to allow the footballer to go. Instead of allowing him to go on loan at least, the London-based club have reportedly banned him from participating in the club’s first-team training this week.
Reports in England confirmed that Ainsley Maitland-Niles is helplessly training alone while hoping that a miracle would happen that will take him from Arsenal to another club before midnight, August 31, transfer deadline day.
Maitland-Niles started his football career at Arsenal football academy. He gained promotion to the club’s senior team on July 1, 2017.
🗣 "It's a sad state of affairs right now when it comes to Arsenal."
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) August 31, 2021
Roshane Thomas says Ainsley Maitland-Niles' social media post stating he wants to leave Arsenal highlights the 'sad state of affairs' going on at the club right now #DeadlineDay 📺 pic.twitter.com/h1tKe9zXn2
