Southampton are closing in on the signing of Ainsley Maitland-Niles from Arsenal, Pete O'Rourke reports.

The lowdown

Fresh off the back of their 2-1 victory over Chelsea on Tuesday night, the Saints have been active on Deadline Day.

They are finalising an agreement with Marseille over centre-back Duje Caleta-Car, who will cost between £12m and £15m (via Jacob Tanswell).

Maitland-Niles, who spent the second half of last season on loan at AS Roma in Serie A, could follow him through the door at St Mary's.

The Englishman is out of contract at the end of the season, although Arsenal may not see it that way as they have the option to extend the deal by a further 12 months.

The latest

O'Rourke took to Twitter to share the news on Maitland-Niles, with Southampton moving a step closer to completing the deal.

Sharing a link to a corresponding article for Football Insider, the journalist tweeted: "Arsenal midfielder Ainsley Maitland-Niles is undergoing a medical at Southampton ahead of finalising his move to St Mary's".

The verdict

One of the biggest assets that Maitland-Niles will bring to Southampton is his versatility. As per Transfermarkt, he has played 20 or more games in six different positions over the course of his career.

Principally a right midfielder, he can also play as a right-back, left-back, left midfielder, defensive midfielder and central midfielder.

Indeed, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta once said that 'he has a huge talent where he's versatile enough to adapt to almost any position on the pitch'.

The £52,000-per-week man may also offer composure, with The Athletic's James McNicholas once describing him as 'ice-cold', so this looks like a clever swoop from the Saints, assuming there are no last-gasp hitches.