Lyon confirm signing former Arsenal midfielder Ainsley Maitland-Niles

Olympique Lyonnais have confirmed signing former Arsenal midfielder Ainsley Maitland-Niles on a four-year contract. 

The 25-year-old came through the Gunners’ youth academy, making his competitive debut for the club in 2014 at the age of 17. 

Since then, he made 132 appearances across all competitions for the North Londoners with three goals to his name. 

Maitland-Niles was never a regular at Arsenal but he was part of their team that won the FA Cup in the 2019-20 campaign. 

That was the season when he made 32 appearances in all competitions with 20 of them coming in the Premier League. 

However, his career went downhill since with the midfielder falling down the pecking order under manager Mikel Arteta. 

Maitland-Niles was loaned out to West Bromwich Albion and Roma as he struggled to find minutes at the Emirates Stadium. 

The 25-year-old spent the 2022-23 season on loan at Southampton, where he made 22 Premier League appearances but couldn’t help them from getting relegated to the Championship. 

The Gunners decided not to renew his contract and he became part of 10 players to leave the Emirates this summer. 

The England international will now hope to resurrect his career at Lyon who finished seventh in the Ligue 1 table last season. 

Maitland-Niles is still very young and has a lot to offer at the top level of football. He mainly plays in right midfield but can also be deployed as a right-back and a central midfielder.