Maitland-Niles rules out move to Everton in new year
As Everton boss Rafa Benitez reflects on the rollercoaster ride he’s endured recently and considers his transfer window options, one player he wanted has ruled out a new year move.
That player is Arsenal’s Ainsley Maitland-Niles who has said he’s not now looking for pastures new and won’t be seeking a transfer to Everton in January.
The Toffees tried to get the Gunners utility man on transfer deadline day this summer and after much confusion about whether the move would happen he ended up staying in north London.
Maitland-Niles had made it clear he wanted the move to give him the meaningful playing time he wasn’t getting at Arsenal. And while might not have been everyone’s first choice, his versatility and ability to play full-back and in midfield apparently appealed to the Blues’s top brass.
Inevitably, given all the injury problems that we’ve seen recently which has threatened to undermine what had been a good start to the season, he would certainly have played if he had joined.
Anyway, he has it seems ruled out another attempt to sign him and so Benitez will need to look elsewhere as he seeks to strengthen for the second half of the campaign.
In other news about past transfer targets it seems another player the Toffees’ were after in the summer is not going to be available again in the new year.
That player is Luis Diaz. The Colombian winger was mooted for a move to Goodison Park in which his international team-mate James Rodriguez would swap Merseyside for a return to Porto where he first started his career in Europe.
But, Rodriguez’s wages were a stumbling block and the deal fell through. There were stories Everton were keen to revive the transfer but now it looks like as with Maitland-Niles he too won’t be going anywhere in January.
His potential fee was a major problem anyway given the Blues’ severe financial restrictions so it’s unlikely even if he was interested that the club could have made the deal happen. The club might be able to revive the move in the summer but we’ll see.
It seems Benitez and Marcel Brands have identified the key areas of the side they want to strengthen focusing on midfield and a wide attacker, which is where Maitland-Niles and Diaz could have answered.
There’s time to scout other players they are looking for but while we’ve said this before several times, it will be a big transfer window in January and unlike at times in the past the club will have to spend their limited funds very well to improve the squad substantially.