Arsenal: Ainsley Maitland-Niles laid the first brick in his new castle

Arsenal have been patiently deliberating Ainsley Maitland-Niles and where his future might lie, and the young man has laid his first brick in his new castle.

Well, it was a loss. Which, if you take at face value, is a bit of a downer, especially given the context of it being Arsenal against their long-time success-rivals Manchester United. But you have to dig deeper than that, because the Gunners deployed a youth side with a few token first-teamers.

Not just that, but for the majority of the match, those youngsters controlled proceedings and it took a lucky Fellaini header to send the Gunners home in a spell of disappointment but, again, they couldn’t have been all that disappointed, it was an overall positive match.

Few of the youngsters were more positive than Ainsley Maitland-Niles. The young Englishman made just his third start in the midfield, having spent his other 12 starts at various fullback positions, as well as his seven substitute appearances.

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In his previous two starts, you may be forgiven for not having been impressed. He seemed to be trying way to hard to make things happen, he was loose with the ball and he didn’t provide much of a presence in the middle of a pitch where it is entirely necessary to have just that.

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Against Manchester United, Maitland-Niles seemed to emulate Paul Pogba. He was an engine in the center of the pitch, pairing up well with the domineering presence of Granit Xhaka, and really making himself known purely through his efforts alone. His combination play was fantastic, he showcased tremendous on-the-ball ability and he proved that there may be a midfielder in him after all.

But that was just the first stone of this castle he is trying to build in the middle of the pitch. Perhaps reluctantly, he has already been subconsciously constructing a pretty strong case for himself to play as a fullback in the future. We had yet to see him play positively in the midfield until this match, and it was sorely needed, as the end of the season will afford him limited opportunities.

He is a player, that much is for sure, and now it’s up to him to continue to build on this one performance and trend himself upwards, because if there is one thing that this club actually has a solid helping of (at least going into the summer), it’s midfielders.

Next: 5 Things Learned Against Manchester United

Oh yeah, and he is only 20-years-old, which kind of plays into his favor a bit.