AINSLEY MAITLAND-NILES could be priced out of a move from Arsenal by his surprise England call-up.
Wolves have had a £15million bid rejected for the versatile 23-year-old who joins up with Gareth Southgate’s squad on Monday for the Nations League games against Iceland and Denmark.
Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo wants Maitland-Niles to replace Matt Doherty, who signed for Spurs in a £15m deal on Sunday.
But Arsenal were demanding at least £25m for the player before Saturday’s man-of-the-match performance against Liverpool in the Community Shield.
And now they are having second thoughts and are set to raise their asking price even higher after Maitland-Niles was added to the senior England squad on Saturday evening.
Manager Mikel Arteta has made it clear that he would prefer to keep the London-born academy graduate at the Emirates but also needs to raise funds.
He said: “Ainsley is a player that I really like. The best way to show that is I played him in the most important games against Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool and he responded well.
“But I am always open to listening to what the player is feeling and then I can give my opinion of what I expect.
“If we have the right understanding, we can move forward together. But if there is something that doesn’t work we have to assess it and find the right decision for the club and the player.”
Maitland-Niles still has three years left on his contract and has impressed as a left wing-back in recent games.
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But he fears that his opportunities will be limited when William Saliba joins the defence and Kieran Tierney reverts to wing-back.
And that may be impacted further if Arsenal manage to seal a deal for Lille centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes.
Maitland-Niles does not want to stay if he is going to be limited to Europa League and sub appearances and said: “I am an Arsenal player until I’m told otherwise. My heart is in the club and while I am here I am going to give 100 per cent all the time. So that is that.”
