Wonderkid's dream Arsenal career ‘didn’t go to plan’ – but now he could wreck Man Utd’s season

For some years, everything seemed to suggest that Ainsley Maitland-Niles was set for a long and successful career in the Premier League. He was a regular presence in Mikel Arteta’s early Arsenal squads, was in the England set-up, and seemed to be on an upward trajectory. Instead, his career took a left turn – and now he’s doing everything he can to knock Manchester United out of Europe.

Ahead of the first leg of Lyon’s Europa League quarter-final against United, Maitland-Niles admitted in a BBC Sport interview that he “thought I'd have been in the Premier League my whole career” and that “things obviously didn't go to plan with Arsenal” – but why did he leave Arsenal, and how has he been performing in France?

Why Ainsley Maitland-Niles left Arsenal

There was, perhaps, never a point at which Maitland-Niles was a nailed-on starter for Arsenal, but it was clear that in Arteta’s first season as the Gunners’ head coach, in 2019/20, his versatility made him an important part of the Spaniard’s FA Cup-winning squad.

Maitland-Niles made 32 appearances in all competitions that season, the most he would compile in campaign for Arsenal, and started the following season with his first call-up to the Three Lions, eventually winning five caps under Gareth Southgate. Able to play as a defensive midfielder, a winger or as a wing-back on either side, he was a utility man with rock solid technique and a work ethic that had drawn considerable praise from Arsène Wenger. All seemed to be set fair for him to thrive in the top flight.

Not that everything was going exactly according to plan. Just before he earned his first England cap, Arsenal’s board decided that he should be sold – despite initial opposition from both Arteta and sporting director Edu Gaspar. That opposition supposedly melted away amid concerns over Maitland-Niles’ performance and attitude, with tabloid reports claiming that he persistently missed team meetings. It’s hard to square those claims away with his hard-working presence on the pitch, but eventually Arteta seemed to decide that it was reasonable to move on for one reason or another.

A permanent deal never got done, but the interventionist backroom powers at the Emirates clearly didn’t want Maitland-Niles around. He was eventually sent out on loan to West Bromwich Albion and spent the majority of the next three seasons lent out to different teams, with spells at both AS Roma and Southampton, the latter of which was a disappointment.

By the summer of 2023, Maitland-Niles was out of form and out of contract. No longer wanted at Arsenal, he signed a four-year deal on a free transfer with Lyon – and seems to have found his footing at speed.

How Maitland-Niles made Lyon his second home – and why he’s still an Arsenal fan

It took the former Arsenal man a little while to settle in at Lyon, but he’s firmly established himself as a key component of Paulo Fonseca’s increasingly successful machine.

A solid showing against Manchester United at right-back, now his regular position despite his previously stated preferences for playing in more advanced areas, provided a typical example of the player he’s grown into in Ligue 1 – tidy, almost error-free, reading the game well, completing every dribble and almost every pass, hardly ever losing possession and making the vast majority of his tackles (he’s in Ligue 1’s Top 10 for total tackles so far this season despite making just 16 starts).

In short, Maitland-Niles has become exactly the player he seemed set to be in his earlier years at Arsenal – absolutely reliable, a work horse and capable of impacting all three thirds of the pitch without fuss or any tendency towards errors. It could be argued that he remains a jack-of-all-trades player, but his performances (and the statistic which back them up) clearly show off a player whose skill set has few, if any, weaknesses.

Arsenal, in short, may well have missed out on a long-term squad player who would have added plenty of value to their team, especially in a season like the current campaign in which injuries have exposed concerns over depth and experience. Still, Maitland-Niles seems to have no resentments towards the club he first joined at the age of six.

“I'm still an Arsenal fan, I watch most of our games and I lived a boyhood dream by winning an FA Cup final at Wembley for the club,” he told the BBC. “I supported Arsenal since I was six. I wish them well.”

He does admit that his relationship with Arteta was merely “average” – while suggesting that there were no significant problems between the two – but even if there was some truth to stories about a degradation of communication between manager and player, he still backed Arsenal’s coach to lead them from his position not just as a former employee, but as a supporter.

Now, though, his job is to help lead Lyon to the Europa League title, to help them qualify for European competition once more (they are currently fifth in a tight race for continental qualification from Ligue 1) – and, perhaps, to help them through an oncoming storm.

Lyon’s parlous financial situation under owner John Textor has seen them provisionally relegated to Ligue 2 due to the size of their unresolved debt. Textor has insisted that the club will avoid compulsory relegation and that their fiscal obligations will be met, but dark times could lie ahead, and a summer fire sale of prized assets like winger Rayan Cherki seems likely.

Maitland-Niles, now 27 and in his theoretical prime (and playing like it) could easily be up for sale too. He seems settled in France, but it would scarcely be a shock if a Premier League team was willing to give him a second chance in England given his form and consistency for Lyon. For now, though, he has a more pressing job to attend to – going to Old Trafford for the first time in several years, and ruining Ruben Amorim’s dream of European glory.