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Midfield duo Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Mohamed Elneny want to leave Arsenal in January in the search of regular first-team football.
The case of Elneny appears a simple one, The 29-year old Egyptian is into the fianl year of his existing deal with the Gunners and, although he would like to sign a new contract, as yet the club is yet to make him an offer.
With the arrival of Albert “Sambi” Lakonga in the summer, he now seems surplus to requirements and could leave for a minimal fee.
The Maitland-Niles situation is less clear cut. Although linked with a deadline loan move to Everton Arsenal turned it down, insisting that he was part of Mikel Arteta’s plans.
Since them he has featured in five out of seven games,. albeit most of those appearances have been from the bench.
And with Granit Xhala currently injured and Thomas Partey set to miss January on African Cup of Nations’ duty with Ghana, the Gunners may be loathe to leave themselves so slight in terms of midfield cover without him.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.