Arsenal: Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ Career Already In Turmoil?

Ainsley Maitland-Niles Arsenal career already appears to be in turmoil after no loan move materialised for him in the summer transfer window.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles is a player who was once, and still is being tipped to be a future Arsenal great. However, despite a promising loan spell at Ipswich Town last season, failure to grab another loan move this time out might see his Arsenal career falter and then eventually die.

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Two years ago. Aaron Ramsey scored that volley against Galatasaray in the Champions League group stages, helping The Gunners to a 3-0 half-time lead. With the game done and dusted, Wenger thought it would be a good idea to bring on two young players who had seldom featured for Arsenal as a vital learning experience. Enter Gedion Zelalem and Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

Both played well; looking comfortable in possession and passing the ball nicely. Therefore you can forgive Arsenal fans for getting carried away with the two 19-year olds who were outshining Wesley Sneijder and Felipe Melo in the midfield.

Then came loan moves to Rangers for Gedion and Ipswich for Ainsley which were even more vital steps in their young careers. Whilst Zelalem helped the famous Scottish club return to the big time, Maitland-Niles found things a little more difficult on the east coast.

It all started off great. He started most games for Mick McCarthy and the boss was so impressed that he dubbed Ainsley a guarantee for the Gunners first team in a couple of years.

However, Maitland-Niles’ life in Norfolk soon took a turn for the worst. After not being allowed to attend a junior England kit launch on March 12th, his mother left an X-Rated voicemail over the phone, causing the young midfielder not to feature in any other games throughout the campaign.

The shocking thing is, she’d done it before. In April 2015 two members of the Arsenal staff were assaulted after an argument broke out between Mrs. Niles and faculty chief Sean O’Connor. The latter himself was attacked and was joined by the Gunners’ chief negotiator Dick Law, who also fell victim. Ainsley’s mum was then warned by the police, but had got Arsenal very wary about the young player’s family.

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After the second incident, Maitland-Niles’ career was in disarray. He returned to Arsenal, but failed to grab a place on their pre-season tour, leaving him with the U21s. However, despite many people thinking he would, no loan move materialised for him after barely any interest came in.

There is now no loan window so the earliest time he can get more first team experience is in January, but playing in the reserve team for half a season will damage his confidence and match speed ability.

Perhaps his mum was a large factor in him staying put. Maybe clubs didn’t want the hassle. After all, Mario Balotelli has a relatable issue and look how many clubs turned him down in the summer. Possibly he could’ve wanted to keep playing with his friends in the Arsenal youth team.

However, one thing’s for certain, Maitland-Niles’ talent cannot be denied, so this was obviously not the reason why one of the Gunner’s brightest young talents failed to develop his career this season with another move.

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If this continues, a player who at the beginning of last season was tipped to break into the Gunner’s squad before Alex Iwobi, might end up being the next Tom Cruise, and spell failure for Arsene Wenger’s amazing youth policy and the talent himself.