Arsenal academy head Andries Jonker leaving Gunners for Wolfsburg manager's job

Dutch coach replaced Liam Brady in 2014 but is heading back to his former coach Wolfsburg to become manager

Jonker will replace Valerien Ismael, who was sacked after just four months in the role (Getty)

Arsenal academy manager Andries Jonker is leaving to become the new manager of Bundesliga side VFL Wolfsburg.

Jonker is in his third season at the Emirates where he arrived to replace Liam Brady in 2014. Before then he had been assistant manager at Wolfsburg, having previously been an assistant to Louis van Gaal with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and the Dutch national team.

But the Wolfsburg managerial job came up this month, after the sacking of Valerien Ismael after just four months in the role, after he replaced Dieter Hecking in October.

Jonker was offered the post this weekend and has decided to leave London to take the job, following a disappointing spell in which Arsenal were knocked out of this year’s FA Youth Cup by Blackburn Rovers at the third round. There has been no official confirmation of the move yet but Arsenal expect it to be completed imminently.

Arsenal now need to find a new academy head and they have already spoken to Pep Segura, as revealed by The Independent last month.

Segura is head of professional phase at FC Barcelona, a youth development role, which involves overseeing Barcelona B. Before this job he was technical manager of Liverpool’s academy from 2009 to 2012.

Arsenal will face competition from other Premier League clubs for Segura’s signature.