PREMIER - Everton held negotiations with Arsenal's youngster

After a failed move in the summer, Everton are reportedly prepared to make a winter swoop for Ainsley Maitland-Niles. England international played in a similar position for West Brom last campaign, though it stays unlikely that the Toffees are considering the full-back for such a role.

In fact, Rafael Benitez could be primarily targeting Ainsley as a possible successor for Seamus Coleman. The long-serving defender is in the final phase of his career and recently picked up a hamstring injury during the international break.

It has effectively limited Rafael Benitez’s options, and Everton will certainly rue not meeting Genk’s demands for Daniel Munoz in the summer.

But in the Englishman, Rafael Benitez sees a better investment option as the ex-Arsenal prodigy has a lot of experience in English football, having played a total of 123 competitive games for Arsenal.

He is also quite ambitious and is perfectly suited to Rafael Benitez’s style of football. However, it stays to be seen whether the Gunners would want to lose out on another defender after sanctioning the loan deal for Hector Bellerin.