Arsenal plan Maitland-Niles transfer U-turn after man of the match display

Arsenal could be ready to do a dramatic U-turn and keep Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has made it clear he wants to keep the 23-year-old whose form has been rewarded with an England call-up.

Wolves have been chasing Maitland-Niles, have made a £15m bid and want to return with a new offer which has left Arsenal fans in uproar at the prospect of him leaving.

Maitland-Niles has got three years left on his current deal, is not one of the club’s top earners but his heroics could persuade the club to give him a new contract rather than have to move to another club.

Former England under-21 midfielder Maitland-Niles has started all three of Arsenal’s games at Wembley and shone in the FA Cup semi final and final as well as the Community Shield.

That shows Arteta’s faith in Maitland-Niles and he wants to keep him rather than sell with Arsenal anxious to balance the books this summer to bring in new faces.

Arteta has gone public on Maitland-Niles being part of his plans and he has now become a firm fans’ favourite.

It has been a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Maitland-Niles who looked set to leave but has fought and shown his commitment to the club.

Maitland-Niles is now purely focused on Arsenal, will ignore any transfer talk and is concentrated solely on nailing down a place at the Emirates.

It was Maitland-Niles’ versatility – he can play in midfield and in the wing back role – which has appealed to Arteta and must have also had a say in Gareth Southgate calling him up for England.

Academy graduate Maitland-Niles, a member of England’s under-17s World Cup winning team in 2017, has made no secret that he wants to be part of Arsenal’s new generation of youngsters coming through with the likes of Bukayo Saka, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah.

Maitland-Niles said: “I am an Arsenal player until I am told otherwise. My heart is in the club and whilst I am here I am going to give 100 percent all the time. So that is that.”