Arsenal face a problem in this transfer window as they have a lack of depth and plenty of injuries in defence, but limited spending power to recruit in the market.
Takehiro Tomiyasu has missed plenty of games with injury, whilst Jurrien Timber is set to miss most of the season.
Ben White has been reportedly carrying a knock since November, and Cedric Soares now looks set to join Turkish side Besiktas.
With this in mind, there are currently very few options available at full-back on both sides, with Jakub Kiwior set to fill in whilst Oleksandr Zinchenko remains sidelined with a calf problem.
Mikel Arteta could have had an internal depth solution to this injury crisis in Ainsley Maitland-Niles, but the former Hale End starlet moved to Olympique Lyonnais in the summer, and this has perhaps exposed a wasted opportunity the 26-year-old had to succeed at Arsenal.
Arsenal defensive crisis highlights Maitland-Niles failure
There is little alternative to Ben White at right-back right now, but if things had turned out differently, Maitland Niles could have been a fine deputy on both sides at full-back.
Arseblog presenter Andrew Mangan has now stated that he believes the five-cap England International missed out on the chance to stake his claim as an option because of his desire to play in different positions.
“If Ainsley Maitland-Niles had really grasped the opportunity that was available to him, when the right back position was sort of all over the place, I think he could have been moulded into a decent right back,” he stated.
“I’m not saying he would have been better than Ben White, I’m just saying that that this desire he had – I think he’s kind of always flitted around where he wants to play.
“He had the opportunity at right back then he wanted to be a central midfielder. I do think he missed an opportunity.
“Would he have been the right back for this Arsenal side? I don’t think so. Could he be or have been a very serviceable right back for a lot of Premier League clubs? Absolutely.”
Maitland-Niles missed the chance to become an Arsenal wildcard option
Maitland-Niles now finds himself at a struggling Lyon side, and he himself is struggling for minutes.
His desire to play in other positions saw him embark on unsuccessful loan moves to West Brom and Southampton when his best form at Arsenal was at full-back or wing-back.
When Arsenal won the FA Cup and Community Shield in 2020, Maitland-Niles played as an inverted left-wing-back, in a role not entirely dissimilar from the one Zinchenko currently plays in.
If he had developed his game as a full-back, he could’ve been a useful rotational option on the right for White and left for Zinchenko, and given the current injury problems in the squad, he could have been a wildcard option, or a Swiss army knife for Arteta.
He may look at the issues Arsenal currently have in defence and lament his missed opportunity, and even Arteta may have some regrets that a player who earned himself an England call-up as a defender in his system was let go for free after failing to kick-on properly.
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