After Arsenal finally confirmed the departure of Steve Bould from the u23s on Tuesday, they’re now on the hunt for a replacement.

Though we’ve known he’s leaving for a long time now, Arsenal only confirmed Steve Bould’s departure from the u23 head coach role on Tuesday.

We covered reports in May that Bould’s exit would be one of a number of coaching changes at youth level. Former u15/16 coach Dan Micciche was set to take over the u18s, raising questions about the current u18 coach Ken Gillard.

According to Chris Wheatley, Gillard isn’t currently set to take over the u23 role, instead acting as an assistant for the new head coach. He’ll also work with Loans Manager Ben Knapper to aid the transition from u23 football to senior loan spells.

Arsenal themselves have since made it clear they haven’t appointed a new u23 head coach yet, as they’ve put up a listing for the role on their website and on Twitter.

The closing date for applications is July 1st, so we won’t have a new appointment before then.

In fact, this raises a strong possibility we won’t have a new u23 head coach in time for the start of pre-season on July 7th. Presumably, Gillard will have to act as head coach until the new one is appointed.

There were rumours linking England u18 boss Kevin Betsy with the job, but if he is a candidate, it appears he’s still in the early stages of the selection process at the moment.