Ainsley Maitland-Niles will discover at the end of the season if he still has a future at Arsenal, Mikel Arteta has confirmed.
The 25-year-old is currently on loan at Southampton, although as Premier League rules state he can't face his parent club at the Emirates Stadium on Friday night, it means he will not be included in Ruben Selles' matchday squad for the first time in just over a month.
Once Maitland-Niles is available for selection again, six games will be left of his Southampton loan spell and it seems unlikely that this deal will be made permanent in the summer transfer window, especially if he's unable to help them avoid relegation to the Championship.
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But what exactly does the future hold for the five-time capped England international after leaving St Mary's? Well, football.london recently predicted the fates of Arsenal's loan army with Maitland-Niles tipped to finally depart the Emirates Stadium for good in the summer.
Of course, as he will only have one year left on his contract come June, if a decision is made to cash in on the Hale End graduate then it is likely that the north London outfit face an uphill battle to get a fee near to the £20million figure they were offered for him just three years ago.
However, there could be a chance that Maitland-Niles is offered an Arsenal lifeline, with Arteta revealing that talks are planned once the 2022/23 campaign draws to a close as the club seeks to find the best solution for all parties involved.
"He was a really important part [of the FA Cup win]. It’s a player with incredible versatility that has played in many different positions which at the end, for different reasons - some professional, some personal - he’s had to move around," the Spaniard said in his pre-Southampton press conference.
"At the end of the season we will sit down and decide what is the best thing for everyone to do to move forward."
Arteta's comments with regard to Maitland-Niles' versatility could be key. It's a well-known fact that the player sees himself as a midfielder but for the majority of his Southampton loan spell he's been deployed at right-back and even operated at centre-back during the 3-3 draw with Tottenham Hotspur last month.
Looking ahead to the summer transfer window, Maitland-Niles is an option to help his parent club save millions of pounds, particularly as there is expected to be movement in the full-back department amid reports linking Kieran Tierney with a switch to Manchester City or Newcastle United.
If the Scotland international is sold, it would leave Arteta and Arsenal sporting director Edu Gaspar needing to find a direct replacement to provide Oleksandr Zinchenko with cover and competition at left-back for next season. One option is switching Takehiro Tomiyasu over from the opposite flank and promoting Brooke Norton-Cuffy as Benjamin White's back-up instead of signing Ivan Fresenda.
However, Tomiyasu's injury might change everything. Not due back until pre-season after undergoing groin surgery, this potentially could open the door for Maitland-Niles as the fact he can operate on either side and is perhaps capable of emulating what Zinchenko does, might just give Arteta something to ponder before making a final decision.
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