Jack Wilshere will not make Arsenal return as Under-21s head coach
Wilshere, 33, who had previously been head coach of Arsenal's U18s, had been in discussions with the club over a potential return to coaching in the academy. Those talks were initially centred around a return to lead the U21s — Arsenal's previous U21 manager, Mehmet Ali, left the club in July to take up a first-team coaching role at Brentford.
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Former Arsenal and England midfielder Wilshere is highly-regarded for his role in helping develop talents such as Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dowman.
Many at Arsenal recognised the value of bringing a celebrated graduate of Hale End back into the academy in a prominent role to help bridge the gap between the academy and the first-team. Naturally, Wilshere was a candidate in the process to determine Ali's replacement — even if there were some reservations over bringing back a coach who had left the club relatively recently.
Wilshere — who made 197 appearances as a player for Arsenal while also earning 34 international caps for England — left the Arsenal academy to join Norwich City as a first-team coach in October 2024. He went on to become interim head coach there, before departing at the end of the 2024-25 season.
The nature of the role on offer at Arsenal, however, has changed. As well as being U21 head coach, Ali also managed Arsenal's U19 team in the UEFA Youth League. Arsenal's plan was to divide the role, with Porter leading the U21s, and Wilshere taking responsibility for the U19s and EFL trophy, as well as supporting the U21 staff.
Thus far, Arsenal have not been able to come to an agreement with Wilshere on that basis, and as things stand he is not expected to be part of the new-look academy set-up.
With Wilshere seemingly out of contention for the U21 position, Porter appears set for the role. The 39-year-old has been with Arsenal's academy since 2017, working his way up through the age groups. Following Ali's departure, Porter and fellow coach Ken Gillard took interim charge of the U21s. Porter is now set to step up to take the role on a permanent basis.
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