AINSLEY: IT IS MIK OR BREAK TIME FOR ME..
ARSENAL’S Ainsley Maitland-niles wants boss Mikel Arteta to give him “clarity” on his future.
The England international spent the second half of last season on loan at West Brom but is due back at the Emirates next month.
Maitland-niles says he still does not know whether Arsenal want to keep him and so cannot make any long-term plans.
The 23-year-old said: “I’ve got two years left on my contract when I go back.
“Once I do go back, I need to speak to the manager and see what ideas he has for me. Then we can move on from there. But I hope I can get some clarity. I hope I can find out what kind of player he sees in me, and what role he sees me in.”
The young midfielder, who made his England debut last September, was overlooked by Gareth Southgate for the Euros and says the free time he’s getting right now is not helping his mindset.
“All this free time gets to your head,” he said. “You hear the club is linked with this person, or that person, and it gets in your head and swallows you up sometimes.”
Maitland-niles pushed to go out on loan in January after getting frustrated with a lack of first-team action. He knew he had to play regular Premier League football to have any chance of going to the Euros.
As it turns out, he was snubbed anyway.
“It was a difficult one for me to swallow,” he said. “At the back end of the previous season I put in a couple of performances in the FA Cup, including the final, and then after that break I got my England call-up. But a couple of months after that, it all died down. I went from having everything at my feet to everything taken away from me.
“You play regular football for your club, and get to an England camp, and then it all disappears and you’re not playing for either. You don’t really get any contact from either manager, international or club.”
The versatile academy product has not written off his chances under Arteta at Arsenal, despite not getting many opportunities in the first half of last season, but he is also open to a move.
He said: “My main priority is to go back and see what the manager has to say and take it from there.
“There are many other possible steps after that so who knows?”