Ainsley Maitland-Niles has been offered to Southampton as the 24-year-old seeks to secure an exit from Arsenal football.london understands. The England international has been left out of all three of Mikel Arteta's matchday squads in the Premier League this season and appears to no longer be part of the Spaniard's plans.
Maitland-Niles came close to leaving Arsenal towards the end of the window last summer when Everton came in with a late offer, but he was convinced to stay after talks with Arteta. However, following limited game time he was allowed to join Roma on loan for the second half of last season where he helped Jose Mourinho's side to win the Europa Conference League.
Despite that, the Hale Ender is keen for a fresh start in order to secure regular game time at this stage of his career. He has just 12 months left on his current contract, however, football.london understands that Arsenal retain an option to extend that deal by 12 months, giving them an advantage in potential negotiations for a deal and meaning that a loan move cannot be ruled out.
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Bournemouth and West Ham are also reportedly among the teams who are in the running to take Maitland-Niles before the end of the transfer window. Nottingham Forest made an enquiry earlier in the window, but ultimately decided to pursue other options in the transfer market.
Edu is keen to trim down Arsenal's squad size after a summer that has seen them add Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fabio Vieira, Matt Turner and Marquinhos to their ranks. Lucas Torreira, Pablo Mari, Flo Balogun, Bernd Leno and Runar Alex Runarsson have all left the club in one form or another in the past few weeks.
Meanwhile, Nicolas Pepe has interest over a loan move from Nice and Arsenal have not ruled out the possibility of terminating Hector Bellerin's contract amid interest from Real Betis over a permanent move, although obtaining a fee remains the club's objective.
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