Serie A giants lurk after Arsenal defender receives stern Arteta ultimatum

AC Milan and Inter Milan are interested in a move for Ainsley Maitland-Niles after the Arsenal full-back received a stern warning about his future from boss Mikel Arteta, according to reports.

Maitland-Niles enjoyed a solid breakthrough season with the Gunners in the 2017/18 campaign and enjoyed a fairly regular role under former boss Unai Emery.

However, having featured in all five of Arteta’s first Premier League games in charge, the 22-year-old has been either on the bench or absent from the squad for the following four outings.

Furthermore, Maitland-Niles played only a minute in Arsenal‘s victories in the fourth and fifth rounds of the FA Cup and the first leg of the Europa League last 32 tie against Olympiacos, before not featuring in the second leg.

According to Italian source Calciomercato, it was after the FA Cup fifth-round win over Portsmouth that Arteta spoke to Maitland-Niles about his lack of playing time.

“You must lower your head and work if you want to continue playing for this club,” the manager is reported to have said.

Following those comments, the source claims that Inter and Milan have both cropped up with interest in the right-back.

It is claimed that Inter reportedly want to bring a young player in to act as their long-term option in that area.

Milan chief Ivan Gazidis – formerly of Arsenal – could raid his ex-club with Andrea Conti and David Calabria struggling for Stefano Pioli’s side.

Arsenal return to action when they host West Ham at The Emirates in Premier League action on Saturday.

In other news, Gunners defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos has insisted that he will look to move on from North London if he is not handed regular game time.

The Greece international opened the scoring against Portsmouth but has often been overlooked by Arteta this term, the Spaniard preferring the likes of David Luiz and Shkodran Mustafi.

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