Arsenal: Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ biggest weapon is Sead Kolasinac

Arsenal youngster Ainsley Maitland-Niles has fired a challenge at Hector Bellerin for the starting job, but Maitland-Niles biggest strength is Sead Kolasinac.

All season, we’ve been chatting about the future of Ainsley Maitland-Niles. The immensely talented young man has been ticketed for big things at Arsenal, but after playing as a winger early on, insisting on being a central midfielder, and now settling as a wingback, it’s been a bit unclear where his specifically his future was headed.

Now, though, Maitland-Niles has made a statement, challenging Hector Bellerin for the starting role, indicating that the position he is currently in is the one he wants to be in and fight for. And after seeing his recent performances, there’s no doubting that he’s made the right choice.

But for as talented as Maitland-Niles is as a wingback, and for as perfectly suited as he is for the job, his strongest weapon in this self-issued challenge isn’t his own abilities at all. It’s Sead Kolasinac.

Part of the challenge for Maitland-Niles isn’t in retaining his spot in the club, but rather, retaining the position at all. Unai Emery has wavered back and forth, utilizing the wingbacks sometimes and steering well clear of them in others.

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As such, the first challenge is getting Emery to commit more times than not to the wingback set-up. And he isn’t enough to do that alone. He needs Kolasinac to keep doing exactly what he has been doing in order to help sway Emery in favor of their favored positions.

Hector Bellerin is a fullback, and for as much as he seems like a perfect fit at wingback, he has mentioned that he still prefers playing a straight fullback role, which is not something that Maitland-Niles is used to dabbling in. So for Bellerin, his strength comes into the picture when you start talking about shifting into a back four.

But for Bellerin, he doesn’t have a Kolasinac opposite him. Or rather, he can, but Kolasinac is not as good a fullback as he is a wingback. Bellerin is relying on a clutch signing this summer, or the prolonged longevity of Nacho Monreal, which is far less dynamic than Kolasinac as a wingback.

It’s an exciting challenge to watch, though. Both Maitland-Niles and Bellerin are fantastic at what they do and they are only going to get better, given how young and talented they are. Now, if Emery brings in a Kieran Tierney type, then by all means, game on.