Arsenal confirmed Pascal De Maesschalck as the club’s new academy director yesterday and the first thing to note is that it is a positive sign that an appointment has been made quickly and in time for the new season.
The academy is currently succeeding with regards to its main aim of providing hugely talented prospects for the first-team squad, as evidenced by the progress made by Max Dowman and Myles Lewis-Skelly, while Ethan Nwaneri also made the journey from Hale End to the senior team.
There is, though, much work to do beyond the surface at academy level. One of the key tasks facing De Maesschalck will be the management of the development of those prospects who are just below the aforementioned elite starlets.
Arsenal’s management of such players has been questionable in recent years, with some individuals (Josh Nichols for example) ending up being released when they could have been sold much earlier.
Concerns have also emerged about Arsenal’s ability to retain the services of some of their standout schoolboys and there will also be a desire to improve the club’s results in the UEFA Youth League.
It will be interesting to see what kind of impact De Maesschalck can make at the academy and he certainly needs to be given a considerable amount of time to put his stamp on the club.
Arsenal are also looking to make another significant academy appointment before the season gets underway as they are still searching for a new U21 coach to replace Max Porter, who joined the first-team coaching staff at Stoke City.
The club put a job advert out for the position this week, although it is still possible that an internal candidate such as David Horseman could be considered.
—
Jeorge Bird is the author of www.arsenalyouth.wordpress.com Follow him on Twitter @jeorgebird