Arsenal are on the lookout for a new under-21s head coach after confirming Mehmet Ali has left the club to join Brentford.
The 38-year-old heads to the Community Stadium to work alongside new Bees boss Keith Andrews.
Ali joined the Gunners as assistant coach of the under-21s in January 2022 and took over the head coach role when Kevin Betsy was poached by Crawley Town.
Over the past three and a half years, he’s played a key role in the development of several promising talents, most notably Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Academy manager Per Mertesacker said he was “really proud of [Ali’s] development” and confirmed that Max Porter – Ali’s assistant – and long-serving coach Ken Gillard will take interim charge of the under-21s.
We wouldn’t be at all surprised if Porter is given the job permanently. Arsenal have long favoured continuity and internal promotions when it comes to Academy roles. Just last October, Adam Birchall took over as under-18s boss when Jack Wilshere departed for Norwich.
It’s not just the youth setup undergoing change. In the first team, Mikel Arteta has had to replace assistant Carlos Cuesta, who has moved to Parma for his first managerial role.
Stepping into the breach is Gabriel Heinze, the former Argentina defender and a close friend of Arteta’s since their PSG days back in the early 2000s.
Elsewhere, The Athletic reports that James Ellis has been promoted to technical director, stepping up from his previous role as head of scouting. It’s believed new sporting director Andrea Berta had held talks with fellow Italian Matteo Tognozzi about the position, but nothing came of it.
Ellis joined Arsenal in 2021 from Fulham and has also held roles at Loughborough University, Nuneaton, Kettering, Ostersund and Birmingham City. A real footballing CV bingo card, that.
Meanwhile, former interim sporting director Jason Ayto – who left the club after missing out on the job full-time – is in talks with Newcastle. He’s one of two candidates in the frame for the sporting director role at St James’ Park.