The Athletic (£) report that Arsenal have added former Manchester United player Gabriel Heinze to the coaching staff ahead of the new season.
The appointment comes after the departure of Carlos Cuesta who left the club to take the role of head coach at Serie A side Parma.
News of three significant staff changes at Arsenal over on @theathleticfc.bsky.social: first up @david-ornstein.bsky.social and I report that Gabriel Heinze is to join Mikel Arteta’s coaching group.www.nytimes.com/athletic/644…
— Gunnerblog (@gunnerblog.bsky.social) 2025-07-03T23:32:15.042Z
The 47 year old Argentinian is – at least in comparison to Cuesta – an experienced figure whose post-playing career has seen him work in his native country at Godoy Cruz, Velez Sarsfield, Argentinos Juniors, and Newell’s Old Boys; and in MLS with Atalanta United.
His time there was described as ‘hell every day for six months’ by one player, and he is a combustible character at times, but perhaps the Arsenal dressing room could use some of that energy (but definitely not hell).
Arteta and Heinze’s relationship goes back to the Arsenal manager’s time at PSG, where he spent 18 months before joining Rangers in 2002, and the newly appointed coach was in attendance at Arsenal’s Champions League semi-final at the Emirates in April.
The club have also seen a departure on the coaching front at youth level with U21 head coach Mehmet Ali departing to take up a new position at Brentford under their new boss Keith Andrews. It remains to be seen who will be appointed to the top job, at that level, but Adam Birchall is a candidate to step up from the U18s.