Kevin Betsy joins as Arsenal U23's Coach

It was announced Tuesday that Arsenal hired Kevin Betsy as their new under-23's head coach. Betsy first began his coaching career at Fulham in 2015 before heading to the England national team. Betsy became a part of the youth coaching staff in 2016 and coached the U18's last season.

The announcement comes after Arsenal fired former U23's coach Steve Bould, a part of Arsenal for over 30 years. Bould's departure was just one of the several changes Arsenals academy manager Per Mertesacker has made to revamp the youth academy. Mertesacker previously promoted Arsenals U15's coach Dan Micciche to Arsenals U18's head coaching position.

Betsy told arsenal.com, "It's an honour and privilege to be joining Arsenal as Under-23s Head Coach. Arsenal is of course an iconic club in world football with such a rich history. This is also a club with a very strong current record of developing young football players for the highest level, but also placing an emphasis on producing well-rounded young people."

In terms of what Mertesacker is expecting from the development perspective, he said to arsenal.com, "We are excited that Kevin will drive us to continue to deliver on our vision to develop and build 'Strong Young Gunners'. Kevin has proved in his coaching career that he will be a colleague who can contribute strongly to our players' development pathway by leading our Under-23s team, including our staff and players."

With the position at his new club, Betsy said, "My work starts here and together with the talented people at this club, we aim to continue the strong work of providing the pipeline of talent to support the first team, whilst at the same time instilling the values and traditions of this football club, so that young players are ready for life as well as football.”

The Arsenal U23’s began their season on Aug 16 when they take on West Ham United.