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Arsenal star Ainsley Maitland-Niles is on course to get his exit wish six months late after a trusted source revealed his two-part transfer is at an ‘advanced’ stage.

The versatile 24-year-old had been heavily linked with a late exit during the summer window. Maitland-Niles took to Instagram in late August in an effort to engineer a move away. Everton were linked with a loan deal, though Maitland-Niles ultimately remained in north London.

The Arsenal academy graduate was gradually reintegrated into Mikel Arteta’s plans. However, he has once again failed to establish himself as a regular.

As such, ESPN recently revealed Jose Mourinho’s Roma had made contact over a January switch.

Now, trusted transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has backed up that report, and shed new light on proceedings.

Firstly Romano tweeted Roma are in ‘advanced talks’ to sign Maitland-Niles.

Roma had made right-back a priority in the winter window, though Ralf Rangnick’s arrival at Manchester United meant acquiring long-time Mourinho target Diogo Dalot became near-impossible.

Norwich’s Max Aarons had also been touted, though it appears Roma have settled on Maitland-Niles.

Romano stated a two-part deal of a loan with an option to buy is on the agenda. While not stated, the likely scenario would be a six-month loan before deciding on whether to make the deal permanent in the summer.

Romano concluded that negotiations are ‘ongoing’, though it’s looking increasingly likely Maitland-Niles will get his move away one window later than he hoped.

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Meanwhile, Arteta has given a ‘resounding yes’ to Arsenal’s plans to sign Philippe Coutinho in January, claims a report in Spain.

Talk of a move back to the Premier League has been hotting up for Coutinho over the festive period. The former Liverpool man’s time in Barcelona has not gone as planned. He was farmed out to Bayern Munich on loan in 2019-20, but the Bundesliga champions were not keen on a permanent deal.

Tottenham, Liverpool and Newcastle have all been linked with Coutinho.

While Sport, via Sport Witness claimed earlier this week Everton and the Gunners were “working” on signing the 29-year-old.

Now though Spanish outlet Fichejas report that Arteta has rubber-stamped the arrival of Coutinho.

It seems the Spaniard has been asked about the potential arrival of the former Liverpool man. And he has supposedly given the green light to the signing.

Arteta has ‘given a resounding yes when approving the arrival’, stated the article. Arsenal reportedly believe they can get Coutinho back to his best and his time at Barca will be ‘finished once and for all’ with The Emirates calling.

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