‘Desperate to play’ – Big Sam heaps praise on West Brom 23y/o with perfect attitude
Sam Allardyce has revealed what impacted Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ decision to join West Brom over other Premier League clubs who were after him.
The versatile England international was attracting interest from Leicester City and Southampton. Ultimately, he decided to come to the Hawthorns on deadline day.
Maitland-Niles has been starved of first-team football at Arsenal this season. He’s looking to play more minutes in order to get into the England squad for the European Championships.
Speaking to the Mirror, Sam Allardyce paid tribute to his new signing and his attitude towards getting more minutes.
He said: “He’s a great example to any young player because by coming here he’s shown that he wants to play games, that’s important to him.
“He could’ve gone to Leicester or Southampton and others were in for him too, but he’s desperate to play and that’s why we’re a good fit.
“He wasn’t playing as regularly as he wanted and saw other youngsters at Arsenal getting games while he was playing less and less.”
A good example
Maitland-Niles comes with an attitude that we will need if we’re to beat the drop. Things are looking very bleak at the Hawthorns at the minute, but our January signings will give hope to fans.
Having broken into the Arsenal first-team under Arsene Wenger, the youngster has struggled to nail down a starting place. He was used sparingly under Mikel Arteta and previously Unai Emery.
To echo Big Sam, it shows excellent character to come and join a club in a proper relegation battle. He could have so easily gone to a mid-table club. There was also an option to go and push for the Champions League places.
Along with the signings of Robert Snodgrass, Okay Yokuslu and Mbaye Diagne, there are definitely reasons to be hopeful of survival still. No, really.
It’ll be very interesting to see how he can perform in the centre of the park. The youngster has been used countless time out of position as a wing-back.
In other West Brom news, Allardyce must take this lesson from the 5-0 thrashing of Manchester City, in the build-up to the Spurs clash.