The pandemic-hit world in which we live means that time has had the curious ability of moving incredibly slowly while simultaneously feeling like it's going quicker than ever before. The relative similarity of the day-to-day means the world feels like is spinning at a frenetic pace, and yet the sheer amount of things that have happened over the past two years mean that so many things seem like a lifetime ago. This is perhaps why the start of last season for Arsenal feels a lot longer than 18 months ago.
Back then the Gunners were unsure of themselves. Success in the FA Cup had showed embryonic signs of promise, but constant changes in formation and strange signings like that of Willian, mean they didn't quite seem sure of what they wanted to grow into under Mikel Arteta. How things have changed.
A defined summer recruitment strategy of building for the future with the acquisitions of Aaron Ramsdale, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, Nuno Tavares, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Martin Odegaard combined with a clear tactical philosophy have seen Arsenal develop quickly into a side that now looks on course for Champions League qualification. But while things around the Emirates Stadium have progressed in general since August 2020, for Ainsley Maitland-Niles they have almost done the opposite.
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It's easy to forget now, but at the start of last campaign, big things were expected from Maitland-Niles. Having starred in the FA Cup run and been anointed man of the match in the Community Shield victory over Liverpool it seemed the penny had finally dropped for the Hale Ender. Importantly too, it seemed his relationship with Arteta, which had previously been called into question, was stronger than ever before.
"He just installed a lot of confidence in me that I had in myself, but maybe I didn't know how to bring out," Maitland-Niles said at the time. "He has helped me do that. We work well as a team together and he knows how to get the best out of me and now I am learning to get the best out of myself more regularly now. I can only thank him along the way and carry on the run of form we have had."
The Hale Ender was rewarded for his fine form with an England call up and earned a positive review from Gareth Southgate for his debut cameo against Denmark in the Nations League. "Ainsley [Maitland-Niles] I thought did really well so, very pleased with the lads that made their debuts," said the Three Lions boss.
Fast forward 18 months and, had his career trajectory continued in that upward direction, then he surely would have been on the Wembley pitch donning his national team jersey once again. Instead though, it was untested duo Kyle Walker-Peters and Tyrick Mitchell who Southgate turned to for friendlies against Switzerland and the Ivory Coast.
Instead Maitland-Niles was forced to watch on from Rome where his loan spell has followed a familiar trajectory. After an initial period in the first team he found himself shunted from position to position and now hasn't played in well over a month. Reports have suggested that Jose Mourinho has not seen enough to convince him to make the move permanent and he will likely return to north London in the summer. This however, is likely to only be temporary.
Should he come back it's hard to see him getting up to 2020 levels any time soon. Takehiro Tomiyasu has been a stalwart in the first team when fit, while Cedric's form has been so impressive in the Japanese international's absence that he has earned himself a call back into the fiercely competitive Portugal squad. Meanwhile youngster Brooke Norton-Cuffy is impressing on loan at Lincoln City and registered an assist for the England Under-19s this week.
Left-back is also taken up by Nuno Tavares and Kieran Tierney, and the central midfield position where he played most of his minutes in the early part of this season seems to have moved on with Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey both impressing while youngsters Albert Sambi Lokonga, Charlie Patino and Salah-Oulad M'Hand are on the fringes. On top of that football.london understands the Gunners are looking to recruit in the central position this summer, and with that in mind it's hard to escape the feeling that Maitland-Niles' ship has sailed.
It's a sad state of affairs for someone who was so highly thought of so recently. Was he poorly advised? Did he over-fixate on being a central midfielder? Could he have done more in training? These are things we may never find out, but one thing we can be certain of is that he's open to a move.
The England international stated on transfer deadline day last summer in an Instagram post that all he wants to do "is go where [he is] wanted & where [he is] going to play." He also stated that he would be willing to "kiss goodbye" to the Gunners in pursuit of achieving his ambitions in football.
There can be no doubt that he has the talent to do all that and more, and at just 24 Maitland-Niles career is far from over. Choosing his next step carefully will be essential in doing that. While he is destined for a return to the Emirates Stadium this summer, it seems his long-term future does not lie with Arsenal.
