Leicester City are reportedly expected to revive their interest in Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who appears destined to leave Arsenal this summer.
According to a report by Daily Telegraph, Ainsley Maitland-Niles could once again be the subject of interest from Leicester City. The 23-year-old English international is set to leave Arsenal in the summer transfer window as he seeks regular first-team football next season onwards.
Maitland-Niles joined the Arsenal academy aged six back in 2003 and made significant progress in the youth setup at the north London club before breaking into the first-team squad in 2014 at the age of just 17. However, it was not until the 2017/18 season that he finally started to become a regular feature for the Gunners.
The 23-year-old featured nearly 30 times in all competition in each of the three seasons till 2020/21, but the ongoing season is where things started going downhill. Despite starting the campaign strongly, Maitland-Niles soon became a bit-part player for Arsenal and a mere backup for both the full-back positions.
As a result, he ended up joining West Bromwich Albion on loan on deadline day in the January transfer window in search of regular game-time. Away from his disappointments at Arsenal, Maitland-Niles has flourished to some extent, starting all but one game for the Baggies since completing the move.
Maitland-Niles has even been deployed in his favoured role in midfield but is starting to accept the fact that most suitors will only sign him as a right-back. And, one such suitor could be Leicester City, who had even made an attempt to sign him back in the winter transfer window.
If Leicester do view Maitland-Niles as a right-back, it will be interesting to see how he fits in the squad at the disposal of Brendan Rodgers, who already has three natural right-backs to choose from in Ricardo Pereira, Timothy Castagne and James Justin. Nevertheless, it looks like Leicester could look to swoop the 23-year-old away from Arsenal this summer.
Apart from the Foxes, the likes of Wolves and Southampton could have their sights set on the Englishman as well, while interest from bigger clubs could emerge as well. As for Arsenal, they seem to be keeping their options open, with the likes of Max Aarons, Tariq Lamptey and Achraf Hakimi linked with them.
Maitland-Niles, though, is set to end his 18-year association with Arsenal in the summer transfer window as he searches for greener pastures. It now remains to be seen if Leicester end up landing the youngster or if some other suitor swoops him away instead.