Arsenal lose Mikel Arteta favourite to Premier League rivals Brentford

Arsenal have lost their U21s manager Mehmet Ali to Brentford ahead of the new Premier League season beginning next month.

Ali arrived at the Emirates Stadium in 2022 after a two-year spell with Reading’s youth team.

After a brief stint as assistant manager to the U23s, the Turkish coach became manager of the youth team.

During that time with the young Gunners, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri worked with him.

Last season, his side lost in the quarter-finals of the Premier League 2 to Manchester City after an agonising extra-time defeat.

Now, Ali is moving on for a new challenge in senior football with the Bees appointing him to be part of Keith Andrews’ backroom staff.

The Irishman was appointed the new head coach at the Gtech Community Stadium last week following the departure of Thomas Frank to Tottenham Hotspur.

Andrews was previously the set piece coach at Brentford and potentially has a hard job on his hands to steady the ship at the club.

Arteta has previously spoken favourably about Ali for his work in developing the youthful players at Arsenal.

Last year, the Spaniard singled out Ali for praise after Nwaneri’s involvement in the first-team. “Huge development,” Arteta said when asked about the forward.

“I think big credit to everybody working in the academy, the coaches starting with Jack (Wilshere), Mehmet (Ali), all the coaches around him, Per (Mertesacker), that have prepared the player to be in the right position right now to shine and be prepared for the different context, and obviously the demands that he is going to be facing right now.

“He’s been doing really well, physically very mature, personally very mature, his game understanding has improved a lot. “And then let him do. He has an enormous quality, a lot of talent and he needs the space to shine.”