Southampton ace Ainsley Maitland-Niles is full of praise for Ruben Selles with the Arsenal loanee impressing since leaving Mikel Arteta’s Premier League leaders.
Versatility has always been one of the England international’s greatest strengths. But, after arriving on the South Coast, Maitland-Niles has succeeded in adding another positional string to his burgeoning bow.
Either a full-back or a box-to-box midfielder at Arsenal, the 25-year-old has been a revelation in a new-look centre-half role of late. Maitland-Niles was outstanding in the 1-0 win at Chelsea.
He impressed off the bench as Southampton claimed another eye-catching result against one of the division’s big hitters too, fighting back to draw with Tottenham Hotspur before the March international break.
And Maitland-Niles is delighted to be sharing a dressing room with Selles; the highly-rated Spaniard breathing fresh life into what looked like a doomed outfit after replacing Nathan Jones in February.
Arsenal loanee Maitland-Niles shining at Southampton
“I think he has been brilliant,” Maitland-Niles tells Hampshire Live.
Read Related Also: 'I'd be amazed': Pundit makes prediction about Manchester United player after Newcastle interest
“Ever since I stepped foot in the building, he has been a very good figure for guiding me. The Southampton way. Ever since he has taken over, he has just brought that energy, the belief and the positivity. And it has got us really believing in ourselves.”
While shocking Chelsea and Tottenham, Southampton also took a point off an admittedly ten man Manchester United at Old Trafford. Maitland-Niles missed that game through injury. He did, however, play the full 90 minutes in each of the Saints’ four previous outings.
“I think, to be honest, we have a lot of confidence in ourselves now,” Maitland-Niles adds.
“That’s our main focus. There is that belief that we can go up against any team. Go to any stadium, and take points off of anyone. So, that’s the main thing for us.”
Whether Maitland-Niles has a future at parent club Arsenal, only time will tell. If Southampton can stave off the threat of relegation, before handing Selles the job full-time, a permanent move for Maitland-Niles is likely to be a top priority.
In other news, Marsch exit means Leeds will now escape signing £14m Hwang Hee-Chan
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘
fbq(‘init’, ‘677672980820926’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
