Ainsley Maitland-Niles has played five Premier League games at right-back this season with Unai Emery utilising him out of position.
“I do not see Zinchenko complaining about this.”
One Arsenal fan has summed it up better than anyone. Oleksandr Zinchenko has carved out a niche for himself in Pep Guardiola’s star-studded Manchester City side, establishing himself at left-back rather than in his favoured central midfield role. And he’s gone about the job with a commendable degree of maturity and class, never once complaining about being utilised out of position.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles should perhaps have taken a leaf out of the Ukrainian’s book.
Every one of the 22-year-old’s five appearances this season have come at right-back but, speaking to Sky Sports, Maitland-Niles has indicated in not-so-subtle fashion that he’d be far happier further up the pitch.
“I’m not a defender so I do get a lot of stick about my defending being poor, but it’s something I’m learning and have been learning for a couple of years now,” said the former England U21 international.
“It’s not where I would choose to put myself in the team, as I’m an attacking player by trade.”
Now, it would be wrong to go overboard and suggest that Maitland-Niles is ‘aiming a dig at Unai Emery’ but airing your frustrations in public is never the best idea – particularly with a dreadful performance against Watford still fresh in the mind of Arsenal fans.
And is Maitland-Niles realistically going to earn a place in Emery’s midfield ahead of Mateo Guendouzi, Lucas Toreira, Mesut Ozil, Dani Ceballos and Joe Willock?
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