Arsenal fans on Twitter desperate for Maitland-Niles to return

Ainsley Maitland-Niles turns 21 today and whilst he’s currently out injured, the Gunners are desperate for him to make a return to the first-team. The versatile young star has been deployed all over the pitch and it looks like Unai Emery is keen on utilising his talents.

Happy 21st birthday, @Ains_7 pic.twitter.com/ptETApDZhh

— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) 29 August 2018

When he returns to first-team action he’ll no doubt be a key player in Emery’s plans. His ability to play anywhere across the midfield and at full-back will be so useful and the fans already love their young midfielder. The academy graduate, who earns £30,000-a-week according to the Daily Mail, is already a fan favourite and if he can start adding some more goals to his game over the course of this season then he’ll be everything the fans want.

Maitland-Niles was unfortunate enough to come off injured just 35 minutes into their opener against Manchester City. The fans got to see Stephan Lichtsteiner make his debut in the youngster’s place but they’d rather have waited for the ex-Juventus player to make his debut under different circumstance. Instead, it looks like they’ll be without Maitland-Niles for a number of weeks and the Gunners will be counting down the days until he’s back.

You can read the fans’ messages for Maitland-Niles here: