It’s fair to say that Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ move from Arsenal to AS Roma in January hasn’t gone to plan.
Not playing regularly under Mikel Arteta with the Gunners, the England international decided to try his luck elsewhere, with José Mourinho seemingly keen to work with him in Italy as he needed a body to compete with Rick Karsdorp at right-back.
Starting in the first possible game against Juventus, he made some impact, but it wasn’t great, and things have never really improved since.
It’s gone so badly, in fact, that the Arsenal loanee has been on the bench for the last three Serie A games, with Corriere dello Sport now saying he ‘seems out of Mourinho’s plans’.
Describing him as a ‘flop’, the newspaper then explain how each of his performances have gone, all leading to the Portuguese’s decision to bench him for the game against Spezia on February 27th.
He hasn’t seen the pitch since, and with AS Roma winning two of their last three games and drawing the other, it seems like they are doing just fine without him, which doesn’t bode well for the Arsenal player or the Gunners themselves, who might have been hoping for some good performances and a bit of money at the end of the season.
