What we learned from the Arsenal u21s’ pre-season return

The Arsenal u21s have returned to London Colney for pre-season, with David Horseman seemingly in charge of the team on an interim basis.

Arsenal have shared photos of the u21 squad returning for pre-season training, with the players linking up at the club’s London Colney training ground on Monday.

Jeorge Bird of Arsenal Youth highlights that Arsenal 2025/26 loanees Ismeal Kabia, Louie Copley, and Lucas Nygaard were all involved in the session, having spent time with Shrewsbury Town, Crawley Town, and Brabrand IF respectively.

First-team hopeful Marli Salmon also took part, though Max Dowman didn’t, perhaps showing that he’s genuinely viewed as a senior player now.

The Arsenal u21s don’t actually have a head coach at the moment, with Max Porter departing the club for Stoke City and the Gunners yet to make an appointment to replace him.

But David Horseman appeared to run the u21 training session on Monday, so it seems he’s in charge for now. Horseman’s official role is as the coach of the u21s and the u19s specifically in the EFL Trophy and UEFA Youth League competitions (but not of the u21s in the Premier League 2).

Horseman was supported in training this week by Arsenal’s u18 coaching staff, including head coach Adam Birchall.

The Arsenal u21s are preparing for their opening friendly fixture against Boreham Wood at Meadow Park later this month, with the game scheduled for Friday, July 17th at 7pm. Arsenal write that the rest of the u21 pre-season fixtures will be confirmed in due course.

One final thing to note from Arsenal’s first u21 training session back is that Alex Marciniak and Josh Ogunnaike weren’t involved, as the club continue to push to extend their contracts.

Their deals ran out on June 30th, so the duo likely won’t take part until they sign.

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