Roberto De Fanti has told TuttoMercatoWEB that Ainsley Maitland-Niles has wanted to join Roma in a loan transfer since last summer to revive the Arsenal star’s England career.
Maitland-Niles sealed a temporary switch to the Stadio Olimpico last week that will see the 25-year-old play under Jose Mourinho. The Giallorossi do not have any purchase clauses for the Hale Ender, despite initial talks featuring an option to buy.
Per Calciomercato, Roma valued Maitland-Niles at €10m (£8m), but Arsenal wanted €15m (£12.5m) to sanction a permanent transfer this summer. So, he will spend the next five-months in Italy aiming to earn more regular minutes than Mikel Arteta had offered.
Maitland-Niles had only played 11 times for Arsenal this term before sealing a loan transfer to Roma. He had also only started four, yet opened the action in his Giallorossi bow against Juventus on Sunday. Mourinho immediately fielded the London-born dynamo at right-back.
De Fanti explains Maitland-Niles’ desire for Arsenal transfer exit
De Fanti carried out negotiations with Roma CEO Tiago Pinto to seal Maitland-Niles a loan transfer away from Arsenal. The agent has now shared that the pair also spoke last summer to discuss a deal. But the midfielder remained in north London to challenge under Arteta.
Yet as minutes remained out of reach at the Emirates Stadium, De Fanti revived talks with Pinto in December. Maitland-Niles was determined to leave Arsenal in the winter transfer market as he aspires to convince Gareth Southgate of his England ability for the World Cup.
“Already in the summer because even then we talked about it with Tiago Pinto,” De Fanti said. “Only that the player was trying to understand if he had the possibility of ownership with Arsenal. Then we resented close to the market in December.
“Ainsley gave the placet all goodbye. He wants to play in the World Cup in Qatar, to have a leading role. He has five appearances in the national team and wants to win a place with Southgate.
“I’ll give another example. [Fikayo] Tomori had zero appearances for Chelsea at that moment, in that season. He went to [AC] Milan, took away [Alessio] Romagnoli’s place and won the place in the national team. It is the mission that Ainsley has set himself now.”
Can Maitland-Niles replicate Tomori’s England success at Roma?
Tomori joined AC Milan on an initial loan from Chelsea in January 2021, having only played 234-minutes over four appearances. He ended the term with 22 outings for the Rossoneri across all competitions, before making his first England outing in two-years last October.
Tomori also sealed a permanent move to the San Siro in June for £24m. Maitland-Niles will now look to take inspiration from Tomori during his loan transfer from Arsenal to Roma.
Maitland-Niles has made five appearances for England in his career since debuting in 2020. But the midfielder-cum-defender has also not played internationally since November 2020.
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