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Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

Jose Mourinho hints at Ainsley Maitland-Niles transfer decision as Arsenal curse continues

Following a busy January transfer window, Arsenal have even more players out on loan.

What started out as a 17-man strong loan army when the summer transfer window closed has since increased to 23 with Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Pablo Mari and Folarin Balogun all adding to those departing the Emirates Stadium - albeit temporarily - in the search for regular game time.

Of the 23, we already know two players that won't be returning to north London at the end of the season with Matteo Guendouzi and Konstantinos Mavropanos agreeing to join Marseille and Stuttgart respectively.

For the majority of the Gunners' loan army, time is running out for them to prove they can be part of Mikel Arteta's plans next season or place themselves in the shop window for a permanent move in the summer.

So how exactly have the Arsenal loanees fared over the past week? football.london takes a look.

It has been a good week for Reiss Nelson since returning to full fitness. He claimed an assist as Feyenoord beat Partizan Belgrade 5-2 in their Europa Conference League round of 16 first-leg tie last Thursday and then played 55 minutes of the 2-1 win over PEC Zwolle on Sunday.

William Saliba and Guendouzi were both booked in Marseille's 4-1 win over Brest, Runar Alex Runarsson was in goal as Leuven were beaten 4-1 by Royale Union Saint-Gilloise and Auston Trusty, a January signing, played the full game as Colorado beat Kansas City to make it two wins from three at the start of the new Major Soccer League (MLS) season.

Back in Europe and Hector Bellerin missed Real Betis' 1-0 win over Athletic Club. This is now three games without an appearance across any competition for the Spaniard dating back to last weekend when he was ruled out of the meeting against Atletico Madrid.

In Italy, Lucas Torreira has been credited with Fiorentina's winner against Bologna as he bundled the ball over the line following a goalmouth scramble and was also named man-of-the-match.

What could have been a mini-reunion between Maitland-Niles and Pablo Mari on Sunday as Roma left it very late to rescue a point away Udinese was ruined by Jose Mourinho.

For the third successive Serie A game, the former Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur boss left the Arsenal academy graduate on the substitutes' bench.

Amid reports that Mourinho hasn't been impressed with Maitland-Niles, it's certainly not looking good for the 24-year-old's chances of earning a permanent deal as in the three weeks he has played a total of 45 minutes.

With Karl Hein currently out injured, Daniel Ballard and Balogun are flying the flag for Arsenal in the Championship and they just so happened to be reunited on Saturday as Millwall played out a goalless draw at home to Middlesbrough.

This time the pair were against each other and there was no holding back with Ballard cautioned for a foul on Balogun after 16 minutes with strong appeals for a penalty waved away.

Whilst the defender would have been delighted to help the Lions keep a clean sheet, Balogun wasn't able to add to his first Boro goal scored against Sheffield United last week, but did earn praise from Chris Wilder.

"It’s great for Flo," Wilder said, as per The Athletic. "He got booted a couple of times early on, which I’ve got no issue with. It’s a physical, contact game and I thought his reaction was really good.

"He and Connolly were really bright, especially in the first half with their movement. It’s an experience that won’t do him any harm at all."

Two Arsenal loanees are in danger of experiencing relegation from League One as Matt Smith's Doncaster Rovers were beaten 1-0 by Gillingham and Ryan Alebiosu didn't feature for Crewe who remain rooted to the bottom of the table after a 2-0 loss away at Sunderland.

There is positive news for Jordi Osei-Tutu's Rotherham United who are on course for automatic promotion following a goalless draw against Wycombe Wanderers. The right-back was an unused substitute at Adams Park which ends his run of six straight appearances.

Sheffield Wednesday - without Tyreece John-Jules once again - thrashed Cambridge United 6-0 to remain a point off the play-off spots, but a week after scoring his first professional goal and being compared to Brazil legend Cafu, Brooke Norton-Cuffy was shown a straight red card during Lincoln City's 2-0 win over AFC Wimbledon.

As a result, the teenager is facing a three-match suspension, but Imps manager Michael Appleton intends to review the footage before deciding whether to launch an appeal that would see it rescinded if successful.

"It’s difficult to see from here [the touchline]," said Appleton. "I know he pushed him in the back, but he got pushed as well.

"We’re being told he was sent off for a headbutt. I didn’t see a headbutt and, having spoken to Brooke and all the players, they tell me that Lee Brown kissed him.

"Clearly, if that’s the case, we’ll challenge it as much as we can. We’ll look at the footage first and make sure we don’t make ourselves look stupid [by appealing unnecessarily].

"Yes, there was a push in the back, absolutely, but that happened two or three times throughout the game."

Technically speaking, an Arsenal player has seen red in each month since the turn of the year (Gabriel Magalhaes, Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey in January, Gabriel Martinelli in February) and now Norton-Cuffy which means the curse continues.

As revealed by the Daily Cannon last month, Tom Smith is still on loan at Welling United but didn't feature in their 1-1 draw against Bath City.

Harry Clarke has been sidelined with a hamstring injury ever since he joined Hibernian and is not expected to make his debut until after the international break, as per transfermarkt, whilst Tim Akinola will be hopeful of adding to his solitary Dundee United when the face Celtic in the Scottish FA Cup this evening.

Nikolaj Moller is still awaiting his first Den Bosch goal after five appearances but he did claim an assist in a 3-1 win over MVV Maastricht and Jordan McEneff's fifth outing in Shelbourne colours ended in a 1-1 draw at home to Dundalk.

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