Ainsley Maitland-Niles shows his class as he returns to Arsenal for the first time since his exit

Add as preferred source on Google

Ainsley Maitland-Niles has now made an honest statement about his Arsenal departure. 

Ainsley Maitland-Niles has now returned to the Emirates Stadium for the first time since leaving Arsenal last summer, as Lyon will take on the Gunners in the Emirates Cup this afternoon.

The Emirates Cup is an annual pre-season friendly, and this summer it offers Mikel Arteta’s players a last chance to get some valuable game time in before the new Premier League season gets underway. 

In their most recent pre-season friendly, the Gunners put Bayer Leverkusen to the sword. Arteta will be hoping that his players can carry that same form into this clash, as this fixture offers an opportunity to build confidence as well as fitness.

The manager may also use this outing to afford some youngsters another chance to impress. Arteta has promised Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly that they can earn first team game time this season, so the Hale End academy duo will be desperate for another opportunity to show their quality. 

On top of that, there will be a familiar face in North London this afternoon, as former Arsenal star Maitland-Niles now plies his trade for Lyon, having joined them upon the expiry of his contract with the Gunners last summer. 

• READ MORE: Every Arsenal academy player to make their senior debuts under Mikel Arteta

Ainsley Maitland-Niles recalls Arsenal departure

Maintland-Niles joined the Arsenal academy at the age of six, and went on to make his first team debut as a 17-year-old in 2014. He went on to make 132 appearances for the Gunners, across all competitions, as well as enjoying loan stints with Ipswich Town, West Brom, Roma, and Southampton, before leaving the Emirates Stadium permanently.

In an interview with the official Arsenal website, Maitland-Niles has now opened up about his Emirates Stadium departure.

The 26-year-old said: “I’m very mature in my mind and I understand how football works. Sometimes it’s time to let go of a club that has been so dear to you and you had so many years with. So it was more of a process of trying to move on, both for my family and myself.

“Obviously my contract expired anyway, so I had to find something that was concrete and solid and I felt like Lyon was the best fit.”

Arsenal must maximise Lyon opportunity

Whilst it will be nice to see Maitland-Niles return to the Emirates Stadium, and this friendly provides an enjoyable occasion for fans, Arteta still needs to capitalise upon the opportunity that his game affords him.

The result isn’t what matters most here, but building up the fitness of key players is. As such, he needs to get plenty of minutes into the legs of the likes of Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice, who were given extended holidays having competed in the latter stages of Euro 2024.