{"id":30542,"date":"2025-07-29T07:29:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T07:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/30542\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T07:29:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T07:29:09","slug":"everton-add-former-arsenal-player-with-over-100-premier-league-appearances-to-transfer-shortlist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/30542\/","title":{"rendered":"Everton add former Arsenal player with over 100 Premier League appearances to transfer shortlist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everton are interested in signing former Arsenal star Ainsley Maitland-Niles, talkSPORT understands.<\/p>\n

The Toffees are looking to add to David Moyes<\/a>‘ squad this summer, and Maitland-Niles has emerged as a potential target.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

The Englishman is extremely versatile<\/p>\n

Any move for the 27-year-old is in the balance, with Lyon in a desperate financial condition.<\/p>\n

The Ligue 1 club have survived relegation to the second division after an appeal, but several of the club’s players are up for sale.<\/p>\n

The Toffees have also registered an interest in Maitland-Niles’ teammate, Malick Fofana, but they face competition for his signature.<\/p>\n

After being taken over by the Friedkin Group earlier this year, the club have signed Thierno Barry from Villarreal and Mark Travers<\/a> as a back-up to Jordan Pickford.<\/p>\n

Read more on Premier League<\/p>\n

talkSPORT understands a deal for Bayern Munich left-back Adam Aznou has been agreed.<\/p>\n

The young defender will cost \u00a38million and will join the Toffees after completing a medical.<\/p>\n

But the recruitment drive may not be done yet.<\/p>\n

Maitland-Niles joined Lyon in the summer of 2023 after his contract at Arsenal<\/a> expired.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old has two years remaining on his deal, though it isn’t clear what sort of fee Lyon are looking for.<\/p>\n

The player himself made over 100 Premier League appearances, so would add some experience to the side.<\/p>\n

\"Maitland-Niles<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Maitland-Niles was an Arsenal academy graduateCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Throughout his career, Maitland-Niles has played as a left-back, right-back, central midfielder and on either wing.<\/p>\n

During his time with Arsenal, with whom he made 132 appearances for, he mainly operated anywhere down the right-hand side.<\/p>\n

He was forced to find a new club in the summer of 2023 after the Gunners didn’t activate their one-year option inserted into Maitland-Niles’ deal.<\/p>\n

He joined the club as a six-year-old, and helped the club win the FA Cup in the 2019\/20 season.<\/p>\n

But several loan moves to West Brom, Southampton and Roma followed before he joined Lyon permanently.<\/p>\n

He has made 73 appearances for the French giants, and a return to England could be on the cards.<\/p>\n

\"Maitland-Niles<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Maitland-Niles made his senior debut in the 2014\/15 seasonCredit: GETTY<\/p>\n

Maitland-Niles returned to play Arsenal in the summer of 2024 as the Gunners faced Lyon in pre-season.<\/p>\n

Speaking about leaving his boyhood club, Maitland-Niles said: “I\u2019m very mature in my mind and I understand how football works.<\/p>\n

“Sometimes, it\u2019s time to let go of a club that has been so dear to you and you had so many years with. <\/p>\n

“So it was more of a process of trying to move on, both for my family and myself. <\/p>\n

\"Maitland-Niles<\/a><\/p>\n

4<\/p>\n

Maitland-Niles has had several unsuccessful loan movesCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

“Obviously, my contract expired anyway, so I had to find something that was concrete and solid and I felt like Lyon was the best fit.”<\/p>\n

And if Everton formalise their interest, he could be returning to the Emirates as a Toffee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everton are interested in signing former Arsenal star Ainsley Maitland-Niles, talkSPORT understands. The Toffees are looking to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[18829,220,1840,18828,218,18830,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-30542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-ainsley-maitland-niles","tag-arsenal","tag-everton","tag-everton-transfers","tag-football","tag-lyon","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}