OZIL REACTS TO ARSENAL TRANSFER

Fenerbahce midfielder Mesut Ozil has reacted to the transfer involving Arsenal loanee Ainsley Maitland-Niles. England international Maitland-Niles has left Arsenal to join AS Roma in the Italian Serie A on loan until the end of the season. The Gunners will receive €600,000 for the loan deal plus another €600,000 if certain conditions are met. In addition, AS Roma will pay his salary for the entire duration of the loan deal.

24-year-old Maitland-Niles is a utility player who can play in a number of positionseffectively and efficiently. Central midfield is his preferred position but he can also play either as a left fullback or as a right fullback. The Englishman can also do a good job on either the left side of the attacking midfield position or the right side of the attacking midfield position.

Maitland-Niles posted that he can wait to play for AS Roma and he got a response from two of his former Arsenal teammates, Alex Iwobi and Mesut Ozil. Everton midfielder Iwobi replied with ‘Big’, while Mesut Ozil wished him good luck in his new adventure.

Ozil and Maitland-Niles were teammates at Arsenal before the former left the club to join Fenerbahce in the Turkish Super League at the start of last year.

Maitland-Niles made his Roma debut as a right-back during the sensational Italian Serie A clash with Juventus at the StadioOlimpico on Sunday. Roma played hosts to the Old Lady with both teams hoping to close the gap on the top four teams in the quest for Champions League football. Roma led 3-1 at the break before Juventus scored three times in seven second half minutes to win the game 4-3. The Old Lady had young defender Matthijs De Ligt sent off in the last nine minutes after conceding a spot kick and Roma midfielder Lorenzo Pellegrini missed the resulting penalty to win at least one point for his team.