Per Mertesacker has announced that he will leave his role as Arsenal’s academy manager at the end of this season.
The World Cup and FA Cup winner was appointed as the Academy Manager immediately after his retirement as a player at the end of the 2017-18 season.
The German international said it was a difficult decision for him but that he was thankful for the opportunity that the English club had given him.
In a post on X by Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano on Monday, Mertesacker was quoted saying, “Arsenal is and will always be a very special club to me, so this was a difficult decision. I am very thankful for the trust the club put in me.”
“Now it is time for me to move on and explore something new and push myself even further,” he said.
“I remain focused on finishing the season strongly, continuing to nurture and develop our young talent and support a seamless transition until my very last day with the club.”
During his reign as Academy manager, Mertesacker has developed young talents, helping to strengthen Arsenal’s pipeline of players for the first team, in recent years Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly and Dowman have all played with the first team.
The club has yet to announce a replacement, but Mertesacker’s departure marks the end of an important chapter in Arsenal’s youth development programme, though there are still a lot of things for the academy to improve on, such as management of loan system, signings at U21 level.
