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Earlier on Wednesday, we covered claims from Italy that Arsenal’s Ainsley Maitland-Niles was planning on undergoing some medical examinations in London before setting off to AS Roma.

Well, that’s now been backed up by Gianluca Di Marzio, who his now reporting, first in Italian, that the ‘medical is underway’ for the 24-year-old in the capital ahead of his move to Italy.

He then adds, in English, what was already being reported in the other articles as well, which is that the deal will be a ‘straight loan’ (no option to buy) from Arsenal to the Italian club.

The idea here from Tiago Pinto, who ended up with pie in his face during the attempts to sign Granit Xhaka, is to secure the deal early so that José Mourinho can use the player quickly, and then hold talks during the second half of the season with the Gunners regarding a potential purchase.

This also allows the Serie A side to evaluate Maitland-Niles up close and see if they want to open their chequebook for the player, who will act as a competition for Rick Karsdorp at right-back under the Portuguese manager.

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