Double blow for Arsenal academy as Dan Micciche joins Kevin Betsy at Crawley Town

Kevin Betsy has been confirmed as Crawley Town’s new manager, but, in a concerning turn of events, Arsenal will also be losing U18s coach Dan Micciche to the League Two club.

The departure of Betsy, who did stellar work with the U23s in his sole season in charge, was expected after he was heavily linked with the position last week.

However, it wasn’t anticipated that Arsenal would be losing another hugely talented coach in Micciche, who will be Betsy’s assistant at Crawley.

A former MK Dons manager who also worked in the England youth setup before joining Arsenal in 2018 and stepping up to coach the U18s last year, Micciche helped many of the academy players to progress including the likes of Khayon Edwards and Reuell Walters.

Arsenal ended up finishing fourth in the U18 Premier League, although they exited the FA Youth Cup in disappointing fashion as they went out in the third round to Colchester United.

Given their similarities in coaching style it appeared that Micciche was the natural replacement for Betsy as the coach of Arsenal U23s.

Alas, that will not be possible now and academy manager Per Mertesacker has the difficult task of finding both a new U23s and U18s coach with the start of pre-season training rapidly approaching.

In terms of an internal appointment, one possible option is Mehmet Ali, who joined midway through this season from Reading as Betsy’s assistant.

Adam Birchall, an academy product himself, is the current U16 coach and Max Porter has coached at various levels.

There will be speculation about Jack Wilshere and a possible return for Freddie Ljungberg, but some crucial decisions will now have to be made in a short space of time.