Arsene Wenger had such high hopes for Ainsley Maitland-Niles, but the England international looks on course to fall some way short of the former Arsenal manager's prediction.
It was Wenger who handed Maitland-Niles his Gunners debut when he was just 17 back in 2014 and many of the Arsenal fans in attendance that night would have expected him to kick on and become a regular for club and country in the years to come.
It would be fair to say Wenger certainly did, with the former Gunners boss heaping praise on Maitland-Niles for his ability to be star in so many different positions. Speaking to Arsenal.com in 2017, the Frenchman said: "I believe he is the future. He can play left back, right back, central midfield. Of the three positions, maybe the least natural for him is left back, but he adapts very quickly and is a good defender.
"He has that sense of one against one, he is very strong, he is very quick, he has very quick recovery runs when he comes back. He has some aspects to learn: experience and he has to work on his heading. But overall, what he has done is positive."
While Wenger may not have been wrong in terms of those aforementioned traits being Maitland-Niles' strong suit, he has drastically underwhelmed when it comes to being Arsenal's 'future'. Instead, three years into his senior career, he is out of the first-team fold entirely.
The latter half of the 2020/2021 season saw Maitland-Niles join West Bromwich Albion for an incredibly underwhelming loan spell that saw the Baggies relegated from the Premier League during his time at the Hawthorns.
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The subsequent summer window upon his return to the Emirates saw Maitland-Niles go public with his desire to "play where he was wanted" as he wrote on his Instagram stories amid reports of Everton's interest in another loan. A spell with the Toffees never materialised and he remained at Arsenal until the turn of the year.
Another loan, this time with Jose Mourinho's Roma awaited him - but things have hardly worked out in Serie A either. The 24-year-old has made just eight appearances for the Giallorossi and barely featured at all during the club's triumphant Europa Conference League campaign.
Any chance of Maitland-Niles remaining at the Stadio Olimpico appear to have already been quashed as Mourinho responded to the player's Instagram goodbye to the club with the comment: "We will miss you/one of us."
As a result, Arteta now has a dilemma on his hands given Maitland-Niles Arsenal contract has just one year left to run before expiration. In turn, this summer presents the Gunners with their last chance to cash in on the player - who is hardly going to have potential suitors lining up after his latest exploits.
