This summer, with most fans pre-occupied by the excitement and fear surrounding the comings and goings of established first teamers, it’s easy to forget those players who are trying to create a foothold for themselves at the top level.

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Ainsley Maitland-Niles – Conservative

Ainsley Maitland-Niles, despite sounding like a Conservative politician (as pointed out by The Tuesday Club podcast), is in with a very good shout of cementing a place in Arsene Wenger’s plans this season.

Having been officially promoted to the Arsenal first team squad, the versatile youngster has clearly been earmarked for game-time by the manager, with his positional flexibility being a particular attraction.

While there have rightly been question marks over his effectiveness so far this pre-season, it’s worth remembering that in all three games he was playing out of position. Left-wing back against Western Sydney Wanderers was already a stretch, but both his substitute appearance against Sydney FC and in the second half against Bayern at centre-half were definitely putting him in a position to fail. Versatile he may be, but putting a player that 18 months ago was a right winger and has subsequently moved into central midfield at the heart of the defence is akin to one of Pep Guardiola’s failed experiments last year.

So if the pre-season glimpses don’t tell us a lot, what should people know about the new owner of the Arsenal number 30 shirt?

Born in Ilford, Maitland-Niles is a rarity in the squad – a proper Hale End Academy product. He joined Arsenal at the age of six, the year of The Invincibles, and signed his first professional contract just over ten years later, having cemented himself in the u21s before his 17th birthday.

At this stage he was still mostly playing on wing or as a number ten, but soon found himself increasingly deployed in a central midfield role. Despite the extra defensive responsibility his creativity and the threat of his long-range shooting remained undiminished, and he proved dominant as a 17 year old in the UEFA Youth League.

As it happens, this positional move was accelerated to ensure regular appearances at u21 level for his close childhood friend Alex Iwobi, but it also allowed Maitland Niles to make better use of his commitment and desire to be involved as much as possible.

Soon evidence of his maturity was demonstrated, as he became Arsenal’s second youngest ever Champion’s League player, behind Jack Wilshere, replacing Aaron Ramsey at half-time in a 4-1 away win at Galatasaray in early December 2014. The game as most memorable for Ramsey’s astonishing 30 yard left foot half-volley into the top corner (and Yaya Sanogo’s look of utter disbelief), but despite playing conservatively, the young Maitland Niles didn’t look out of place.

By the end of the season he had made his Premier League, FA Cup and Champion’s League debuts, all while still only 17, and he was seemingly unaffected in his progress by some unsavoury incidents involving his mother, who found herself arrested and subsequently banned from the training ground.

Looking at his performance at this level both before and after his positional move, it’s easy to see why the club felt that he needed to progress beyond the u21’s in order to keep being pushed, particularly as he was seen as being both shy and a little lacking in self-belief, despite performances above that of his peers.

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