Kevin Campbell worries Arsenal youngster might not be good enough

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Arsenal’s Ainsley Maitland-Niles has struggled for game time under Mikel Arteta so far.

Kevin Campbell has told Arsenal Fan TV’s Youtube channel that he fears for Ainsley Maitland-Niles at Arsenal, and if he doesn’t make the grade soon then he has ‘got to go’.

Maitland-Niles has fallen completely out of favour at Arsenal since Mikel Arteta took charge, and has found game time very difficult to come by.

The Arsenal youngster was a regular in Unai Emery’s line-up, but hasn’t truly proven himself ready to start every week for the Gunners.

And Campbell insists that nobody should feel sorry for Maitland-Niles if he doesn’t make the grade at Arsenal.

“There’s a new manager in town and now Maitland-Niles is going to really realise what it’s like to play for Arsenal,” Campbell said.

“He already knows what he’s going to get from [Mesut] Ozil, from [Alexandre] Lacazette, from Sokratis [Papastathopoulos], from David Luiz and all the experienced guys because he’s coached against them at Man City.

“He knows what they are, he knows they’re not stupid. But what’s he going to get from these talented youngsters, do they have the right attitude for Arsenal?

“If they don’t, they’ve got to go. It’s so important he gets ruthless with everyone, because we could be waiting on a Maitland-Niles to cross that gap and it never happens.

“You’ll always feel a bit sorry, say he never got the chance, but it’s nonsense now, it’s his fourth manager and the jury’s still out so something’s got to give.”

Arteta has already questioned Maitland-Niles’s attitude on the training ground since taking charge.

The Gunners boss recently suggested that the prospect needed to get his head down to force his way back into his plans.

In Maitland-Niles’s defence he hasn’t always been played in his natural position in Arsenal’s first-team, as he has often been stationed as a right-back rather than a central midfielder.

Maitland-Niles has actually been linked with a move away from Arsenal recently, with Calcio Mercato suggesting that AC Milan and Inter Milan are both keen on him.