Arsenal technical director James Ellis is set to leave the club just months after his promotion to the position, according to reports.
Football insider Hand of Arsenal broke the news on Friday that Arsenal technical director James Ellis was leaving the club, with James McNicholas of The Athletic confirming the report on Friday evening.
Ellis had only been promoted to the position of technical director seven months ago, with the intention that he would provide support to new sporting director Andrea Berta.
More recently, McNicholas reports that Ellis has played a key role in Arsenal’s academy recruitment, credited with a role in signing Victor Ozhianvuna, Edwin and Holger Quintero, and in extending Max Dowman’s contract.
The expectation was that Ellis would be significantly involved in the process of appointing Per Mertesacker’s successor as academy manager. That now seems unlikely, given Ellis’ apparent departure.
As for why Ellis is leaving, no information is available at this time. There’s speculation that perhaps Arsenal are using Mertesacker’s exit as an opportunity to evolve the structure of the club’s hierarchy, but nothing is confirmed.
What is certain is that there are going to be a lot of changes to the club’s academy setup next season.
That may not be a bad thing, given the Arsenal youth teams have largely struggled this season. The u21s sit 10th in the Premier League 2, the u18s sit 11th (of 15 teams) in the u18 Premier League South, and there have been a number of very poor results against the fellow elite academy teams.
The Arsenal academy are still producing a few outstanding individuals, but outside of that lucky few there are many more treading water, failing to compete in underperforming u18/u21 teams or going out on disappointing loans.
That’s something to address for the new people in charge.