Sam Allardyce admitted that he signed an Arsenal star despite Mikel Arteta not wanting to let the player leave.
The Englishman has had a managerial career spanning over three decades, managing the likes of West Ham, Everton, and England.
The 69-year-old's last role in management came last year when he took charge of Leeds United in their final four Premier League fixtures as they ended up suffering relegation to the Championship with Allardyce leaving the club following the end of the season.
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It was only the second relegation he'd suffered in his career, with his first occurring in his previous managerial role at West Brom despite scoring a famous 5-2 away win against Chelsea.
Allardyce was proactive in the January transfer window, bringing in five players mid-season including two players on Deadline Day. One of those players was England international Ainsley Maitland-Niles who signed on a loan deal from Arsenal.
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Speaking to BirminghamLive, the manager admitted that Arteta didn't want to let the midfielder leave but the 26-year-old was insistent on leaving the Emirates in January. "Eventually our persistence paid off," Allardyce revealed. "Maitland-Niles... Arteta and their director of football Edu, did their very, very best not to let him come.
"When it came up for Maitland-Niles eventually, he told us that he'd had to say he was going to West Brom and nowhere else. That was the only reason we got him, in fairness to him. Not many players would do that."
Allardyce revealed it was a promise to play the Englishman in his preferred role of midfield that made him want to play at the Hawthorns.
Luke Littler darts fans can back 'The Nuke' in Premier League with his playing shirt
Luke Littler fans can now buy the 17-year-old's playing shirt to support him as he continues to demonstrate his talent in the Premier League.
The darts sensation was only 16 when he wowed Alexandra Palace at the World Darts Championship (WDC), despite a final loss to Luke Humphries.
The Nuke will continue playing against seven of the best dart players in the world — Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Nathan Aspinall, Rob Cross and Peter Wright — in a mini-tournament in a different city every Thursday until the final in May.
"If you use your experience, you say to Maitland-Niles, where do you want to play? He says in midfield, but nobody plays me there," he added. "I said, well, if you come here you'll play in midfield. 'All the other clubs want me to play full back and I don't want to play there' - but here he would play midfield. That was it. That's what got him."
After his six-month stint at West Brom, Maitland-Niles enjoyed two more loan spells at Roma and Southampton before leaving Arsenal on a permanent deal last summer to join Ligue 1 side Lyon.
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