Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WE’RE ALL G
Arteta’s young Guns look ready to fire because they have talent, strength, brains and we know each other inside out says Maitland-niles
A NEW generation of English talent is ready to break through at Arsenal, according to Ainsley Maitland-niles.
The 22-year-old is determined to be part of the group, along with Bukayo Saka, Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock, Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith-rowe.
It promises to be one of the Gunners’ most exciting crops of homegrown youngsters and Maitlandniles says Mikel Arteta is exactly the right coach to put his faith and trust in youth to take the club forward.
“The players have got the talent, the physicality, and the brainpower to do it,” said Maitland-niles. “It’s just about whether the manager has the trust in the players to play them all at the same time, and if he wants to take that big risk.
“I’m sure it will pay off. Maybe not straightaway, maybe there will be a few mistakes, a few points cost here and there in the beginning.
“But, in the long run, it will be very beneficial because these players have been playing together for years and they know each other inside out.
“That’s the beauty of it, we can get the best out of each other, and we’re pushing each other every day, as we have been for the last three or four years. Why would we stop now?
“We all want to be better players, so we’re going to push each other even harder. To see five or six from the same age fly through in the same year is incredible.”
Saka, 18, has just signed a new deal, Nelson has had regular starts this season, while Willock (below) and Nketiah appear to have bright futures under Arteta.
Maitland-niles (with Nketiah and Nelson, right) clearly has the manager’s trust, as he is getting regular football, and their relationship dates back to when Arteta was still playing and the Arsenal No.15 was breaking through.
Maitland-niles said: “He always fills me with confidence, tells me how good I am – I just need to believe it myself. I’m a harsh critic on myself. I can beat myself up while someone else is doing it to me verbally at the same time!” Maitland-niles has been schooled the Arsenal way since he was first spotted as a five-year-old.
He joined a year later, went to the Hale End academy, then broke into the first team under Arsene Wenger, while winning the Under-20s World Cup with England in 2017.
He started out as a striker, moved to the wing, was then converted to midfield, and has filled in at both full-back and wing-back, even playing on the left despite being right-footed.
There are a couple of things he is happy to clear up. It has been incorrectly said he does not want to play full-back and there have also been suggestions his attitude or timekeeping is an issue. He added: “It doesn’t bother me what people label me as because I think the management know themselves.
“OK, I was late, maybe once during this manager’s time. It was a mistake, I spoke to him and put my hands up and took the consequences.
“I would play right-back every week if I had to. If the manager says to me, ‘Ains, you gotta go in goal this game’, I will put the gloves on and I am ready to rock’n’roll.
“That’s where some people may have misjudged what I said before in a different interview. Obviously, I do prefer playing central midfield, but that is not to say that I don’t want to play right-back, or that I’m not going to do the job there if I was asked to.”