Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink said on Sky Sports Premier League (1:48pm, February 14, 2021) that Arsenal-owned West Bromwich Albion midfielder Ainsley Maitland-Niles is wrong about his position.
The Burton Albion manager, who played for Leeds United and Chelsea among other clubs and also works as a pundit for Sky Sports, believes that Maitland-Niles’s best position is on right of midfield or as a right-back, not as a central midfielder.
West Brom manager Sam Allardyce said earlier this month, as quoted in The Birmingham Mail, that the 23-year-old will play in central midfield during his loan spell at The Hawthorns.
The Birmingham Mail claimed that although the England international can play as a right-back, left-back and as a winger, he sees himself ‘in the long-term’ in midfield.
The 23-year-old joined the Baggies on loan from Premier League rivals Arsenal in the January transfer window.
Hasselbaink said about Maitland-Niles on Sky Sports Premier League (1:48pm, February 14, 2021): “It’s interesting what he says, that he wants to play in his favourite position, central midfield. I don’t think that is his best position.
“If it was his best position, he would have been playing in that position. I am seen him in different positions, and he has been absolutely brilliant, and I think off the right, off the left, that is his position.”
The Sky pundit added: “I think he is better in a right midfield position or right full-back position. That is where I can see him really affect the Arsenal squad.”
Big decision ahead
Maitland-Niles will have a big decision to make once his loan spell at West Brom comes to an end.
If Arsenal are not ready to play him in central midfield on a regular basis and if he succeeds in that role at West Brom, then it would make sense for the youngster to leave the Gunners permanently and find a new home.
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