Arsenal have confirmed the departures of 10 players in their retained list - but negotiations are ongoing for Reiss Nelson over a potential new contract.
The Gunners ended the 2022/23 Premier League season in second, which was their highest finish in seven years. They were in a title race with Manchester City for the majority of the campaign, before falling short as Pep Guardiola's side claimed the title for the third successive season.
But it was a much-improved campaign for the Gunners as they qualified for the Champions League for the first time since 2017 and Arteta is aiming to bring in more quality this summer. As he does that, Arsenal will lose several players at the end of their contracts this month.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles is the most high-profile player that will be definitely depart. The 25-year-old spent the past campaign on loan at relegated Southampton after 20 years at the Gunners. He came through the famous Hale End academy before making his Arsenal debut in December 2014.
He became an important member of Arsene Wenger's side, before being sent out on loan to West Brom after falling out of favour under Arteta. Having returned to the Gunners in 2021, Maitland-Niles was handed a chance by Arteta to impress against Watford - a game the Gunners narrowly won.
After the game, Arteta decided to heap praise on Maitland-Niles. He said: "First of all, I see a different player in terms of his urgency, his commitment, the clarity in his play, his purpose. Since we made the decision (to keep him), it was clear what I was seeing that I wanted him to stay, because he was going to be useful.
"He has a huge talent because he’s versatile enough to adapt to almost any position on the pitch. Today we made use of him to do what he had to do in the game, which was really important."
Arteta soon lost faith in Maitland-Niles, however, and exiled him from first-team affairs. "Ainsley needs to put his head down and work hard," the Arsenal boss said in March 2020 when questioned why Maitland-Niles had not featured of late. "Show me every day in training that he wants it more than anyone else, he wants to play for this club and fight for his place."
The player then publicly declared his wish to leave Arsenal on social media in August 2021, but was kept at the club despite interest from Everton. Maitland-Niles is free to look for another club now though, having made 26 appearances in all competitions for Southampton as they were relegated to the Championship. He has been linked with a return to St Mary's Stadium, but could also stay in the Premier League.
As for the other nine players that have been released, Zach Awe, Joel Ideho, George Lewis, Matt Smith and Tom Smith, Kaleel Green, Alexandar Kovacevic, Tino Quamina and Mathaeus Roberts will all leave on June 30.
Nelson's contract runs out later this month but the club have confirmed that negotiations are ongoing to strike a new deal for the winger, who impressed last season. The 23-year-old scored just four times last term but one of those was the last-minute winner against Bournemouth in March.
