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Ainsley Maitland-Niles playing for Arsenal in a pre-season friendly against Nurnberg at the Max Morlock Stadium. July 2022.

Watch: Mikel Arteta rages at Ainsley Maitland-Niles after a bad pass

Despite being on the winning side, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta wasn’t completely happy during their 2-0 win over Everton.

Gabriel Jesus, who recently joined Arsenal from Manchester City, scored his third pre-season goal to give the Gunners the lead in the 33rd minute.

Jesus also played a key role in Arsenal’s second goal, setting up Bukayo Saka for a simple finish from close range in the 36th minute. Arteta then made six substitutions at half-time and Ainsley Maitland-Niles replaced Saka.

Maitland-Niles came through Arsenal’s academy and has made over 100 appearances for the club since making his first-team debut in 2014.

But he’s struggled to cement his ace n the starting XI and joined Roma on loan in January 2022 after becoming frustrated at the Emirates.

“Ainsley came to me and explained the reasons why he thought that the best thing for him in his career right now is to move away,” Arteta said. “He believes that the opportunity to move to Rome and working under Jose [Mourinho] is a really good one.

“We already had this conversation in the summer and we decided to keep him at the club and assess the situation in December, but with the amount of minutes that he has played, he’s entitled to that opportunity.

“When a player feels that way and has a strong argument like he has, it’s very difficult to turn it away, so we decided to let him go and we wish him all the best.”

He made just eight Serie A appearances in the second half of last season and was an unused substitute during Roma’s UEFA Europa Conference League final victory over Feyenoord.

The 24-year-old is now back at Arsenal but had a moment to forget against Everton. He tried to pass the ball to Granit Xhaka but got it all wrong and the pass fizzed out for an Everton throw-in.

It’s safe to say that Arteta wasn’t happy about the fact that possession had been given away so cheaply.


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