Report: ‘Brilliant’ player is about to tell Arsenal he wants to leave today

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Arsenal defender Ainsley Maitland-Niles is set to tell Mikel Arteta he wants to leave the Emirates Stadium for a third time today, the Daily Express claims.

Wanting to leave

Maitland-Niles saw his exit route from Arsenal blocked yesterday, with the club turning down a bid from Everton.

That caused the Hale End graduate, who has been called ‘brilliant’ by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (Sky), to post on Instagram, suggesting he wanted to be allowed to move to a club who were going to play him.

Arsenal, for the time being, seem to be intent on keeping hold of Maitland-Niles, even though he is only a squad player.

But it seems that a move away from the Emirates Stadium could still be on the cards for the 24-year-old.

That is because he intends to tell Arsenal of his desire to leave later today.

Will Arsenal let him go?

Whether his impending request will persuade Arsenal to allow him to go remains to be seen.

However, Arsenal are surely risking having an unhappy player around if they don’t sanction a move at this point.

With the Gunners’ morale in camp not exactly at an all time high, given their league position, that could be a gamble.

The other alternative, of course, would be for Arteta to put Maitland-Niles into his starting line-up.

There may be a gap at Arsenal at right-back, although it seems unlikely he will take a midfield place off any of their current options.