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Ainsley Maitland-Niles ended up being one of the most important players in Arsenal's FA Cup-winning campaign. Playing left wing-back in both the semi-final and final, he put in two stellar performances to help the Gunners win the competition for the 14th time. These performances came at the end of a difficult year for Maitland-Niles, who was a bit-part player unhappy at not playing in his favoured position. He was used as a makeshift right-back when Hector Bellerin was injured, and a left wing-back after Mikel Arteta's switch to a back five - he's previously spoken about his desire to play in midfield. Arteta barking instructions to Maitland-Niles With  Wolves  said to have spoken to Maitland-Niles and having had their first bid rejected,  Arsenal  now have to make a decision on the future of the Englishman. His performances towards the end of the season under Arteta suggest that he can fit into the system well and he could become a regular in this side. However, the...

AC Milan are edging closer to agreeing a deal that would see Zlatan Ibrahimovic extend his second stay at I Rossoneri by a further 12 months. At the tender age of 38, the Swede rejoined his former club after his contract with LA Galaxy ran out, moving back eight years on from his previous stint on a one-year deal. While many questioned the move on  Milan 's part to re-sign the 38-year-old, Zlatan silenced any critics with a stunning return to  Serie A . In just 18 top flight outings, the striker netted ten times and laid on a further five assists, helping the Rossoneri overcome a poor start to the season to finish in sixth position. After impressing on his Italian return, talk has emerged about an extension on his previous deal, and now  Fabrizio Romano  has revealed that Milan are 'confident' that a deal can be agreed to keep Zlatan at the club into his 39th birthday. It's added that the former Barcelona man is keen on remaining at San Siro, which is unsurprising gi...

It has been reported in South America that  Lionel Messi  could have played his final game for  Barcelona , with sensational claims that the captain is 'determined' to leave this summer. Reports in Spain, meanwhile, suggest that Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman is being lined up as the man to replace Quique Setien, who looks certain to leave following Champions League humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich. It's not a good time to be Barcelona at present. The club is spiralling rapidly, and even Messi - on whom the club have relied so heavily to keep them competitive at the top - was unable to save a disastrous 2019/20 season. The Catalan giants yielded their La Liga title to Real Madrid, and finished their campaign trophy-less after  Bayern  smashed eight goals past them on Friday evening - two of which came from Barcelona-owned Philippe Coutinho. The result has left the club scarred, so much so that Brazilian outlet Esporte Interativo, ...

  Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho has boarded the plan for the club's pre-season tour, with Manchester United yet to strike a deal to sign him. Dortmund officials have been adamant that they wanted Sancho's future to be decided by August 10 so they could have their squad together for pre-season, challenging United to meet their £108m asking price or walk away. As it stands, United are yet to do either. They remain determined to get a deal for Sancho over the line but are hesitant to spend so much money, and Christian Falk has confirmed that the Red Devils' negotiating stance may be weakened as Sancho has been included in the squad for pre-season. Dortmund  will now be even more reluctant to do business as they have always wanted their squad to have as much time together as possible before the season starts. They were prepared to sell Sancho and find a replacement, but only if that new face had the entire summer to settle in. While the so-called 'deadl...

"When I was playing for Roma, the world's best goalkeeper at the moment was sitting on the bench, Alisson - who plays for Liverpool today. Now, at Juve, my replacement is one of the greatest players in history [Gianluigi Buffon]. The conclusions are that I'm probably the best in the world and in history." When Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny delivered this gem in September he was - at least for the first two sentences - factually correct. Wojciech Szczesny has been Juventus' first-choice goalkeeper for the past two seasons During Szczesny's final season on loan at Roma, Alisson was indeed his understudy and the past two years have seen the Poland international rise to the position of Juve's number one ahead of the legendary figure of Gianluigi Buffon. However, the 30-year-old was quick to stress that he was joking - something Szczesny is never far from doing, at times to his own detriment. Szczesny followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a g...

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has admitted that the coronavirus pandemic has made deals for either Paris Saint-Germain's Neymar or Inter's Lautaro Martínez very unlikely. Before football shut down, Barça had been planning to bring in both players in a double swoop which could well have hit close to the £300m mark, but the club's finances took a huge hit during the stoppage and now such business seems impossible. Neymar is keen on a return to Camp Nou A deal for Martínez was expected to be prioritised, with  Barça  looking for ways to offer players in exchange, but Bartomeu has confirmed to Sport that talks have been postponed while both clubs figure out what the future holds. "Barça have spoken with  Inter  and Lautaro for several weeks, but the talks are stopped by mutual agreement with Inter," he confessed. "The current situation does not invite large investments." Obviously, that means any deal for  Neymar , which was always going to be t...