On the face of it, it looks strange.
James Ellis was promoted to Arsenal’s new technical director in August 2025. The new role had him scoping out an overhaul of the club’s academy, building on significant work he had undertaken growing the club’s wider recruitment and analytics capabilities.
Seven months later, he and Arsenal abruptly parted ways — a surprise departure which caught many within and outside the club off guard.
Ellis’s exit has now been formalised, but many supporters still have questions: what did his role entail? What were his key responsibilities and contributions? And what may have precipitated his sudden departure?
To gain an understanding of the situation, The Athletic spoke to several sources closely affiliated with the club, who have asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships.
Ellis joined Arsenal as their UK first-team scout in 2021 from Fulham.
Then-technical director Edu had overseen a radical overhaul of the recruitment department in 2020, with several redundancies leading to the formation of a smaller, leaner team. When the time came to begin building out that group, Ellis emerged as the outstanding candidate: he had an extensive network and knowledge of the British market, strong relationships, insightful opinions and, crucially, was not afraid to voice them.
A lifelong Arsenal fan, it was a dream move for Ellis.
Although his role was initially focused on UK scouting, this small, agile team worked very flexibly and collaboratively. Ellis could demonstrate good contacts and knowledge of the wider European and global markets. Arsenal began recruiting Premier League talent with more regularity.
In November 2022, Edu was promoted to become Arsenal’s first sporting director. Edu’s right-hand man, Jason Ayto, stepped up to become assistant sporting director. This reshuffle led to Ellis being confirmed as Arsenal’s new head of recruitment in March 2023.
This was a role that went far beyond scouting: Ellis was a key figure in developing the infrastructure and organisation for Arsenal’s recruitment network. For much of Mikel Arteta’s reign, Arsenal’s recruitment revolution has been driven by their ‘Football Intelligence’ department. Ellis pioneered having a fully integrated recruitment system across their men’s women’s and academy teams. With Ellis’ help, Arsenal improved their capacity to analyse the market, evaluate their squad and interrogate their decision-making.
Ellis was part of major first-team recruitment conversations. Sources say he had a good rapport with Arteta, who appeared to respect Ellis’ willingness to challenge decision-makers.
When Edu left in November 2024, Arsenal began a process which ultimately led to the appointment of Andrea Berta in March 2025. Senior figures at the club hoped Ayto, who had served as interim sporting director and been a candidate for the permanent position, would stay on to support Berta.
The Italian would require support as he was adjusting to a new league, working environment, and language. What’s more, the Arsenal hierarchy determined that Berta would need to be fully focused on first-team recruitment.
Edu’s remit as sporting director had ostensibly included oversight of both the academy and the women’s team. Given the proximity of the transfer window — and the urgency to deliver silverware — it was felt Berta should concentrate on delivering Arteta the first-team squad he needed.
Berta shared that view. In some cases, the role of sporting director is focused on the long-term, but Berta was explicit about coming to Arsenal to work closely with Arteta, to win, and to do so immediately. That meant the club’s wider football operations would require some attention.
Andrea Berta’s focus has been on immediate-term first-team success (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Ayto, however, decided to leave to pursue his own ambitions; a formal offer to stay on was never made. Having left the club, Ayto was subsequently appointed as sporting director at Brighton.
Arsenal considered their options, including appointing former Juventus scout Matteo Tognozzi, but ultimately decided against it.
Ellis had received offers to take up sporting director roles elsewhere, but ultimately chose to stay at Arsenal as the new technical director.
The then executive vice-chair, Tim Lewis, had been eager to retain his skill set. It was thought that Ellis could provide the club with continuity and valuable support for Berta. The idea was for him to tackle the technical departments that fell outside Berta’s necessarily narrow focus.
The academy was identified as a clear area for potential progress. Ellis and the technical department were designated to oversee youth development, player pathways, loan management and the recruitment of emerging talent.
This degree of attention on the academy was overdue. The club had been aware for some time that improvement was required, but attention and resources had been focused on the first team. Ellis was charged with a major strategic review of the academy, which was delivered in autumn 2025. The results were not entirely flattering.
As ever, Ellis was forthright in his views; some considered that necessary, others considered it a threat to the status quo. A determination to shake things up can ruffle feathers.
The core observation was that, against a landscape of financial regulation, the academy needed to deliver more revenue for the club. While the emergence of the likes of Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dowman is rightly celebrated, the economic reality is that Arsenal need to maximise revenues from the academy to drive sustainable success.
Ellis and his team sought to improve retention and avoid cases such as Chido Obi and Ayden Heaven joining Manchester United for low fees. Similarly, it was felt that too many players simply leave Arsenal for nothing at the end of their time with the academy. Arsenal invest considerably in the development of these players, so they need to generate a return.
Ellis also played a crucial part in the retention of top young talent such as Dowman and Marli Salmon.
In the case of Dowman, he was especially influential, becoming the club’s de facto point of contact with the family, but he also developed honest, easy relationships with the families of many academy players. Ellis was also prepared to have difficult conversations with youngsters when it became clear their futures lay elsewhere.
He contributed to Arsenal’s increased aggression in the market for emerging talent. Under his leadership, Arsenal saw off the challenge of Real Madrid and Chelsea to sign the Ecuadorian Quintero twins. Ellis worked with Lee Herron to expand the club’s recruitment connections in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, including the signing of Shamrock Rovers’ Victor Ozhianvuna for an Irish record transfer fee. Arsenal have also moved for top domestic talent such as Charlton’s Mishel Nduka and Stoke’s Jaden Dixon.
With a restricted budget, Arsenal had fallen behind their competitors. This new recruitment drive was indicative of a change and a refreshed approach. In the words of one anonymous agent, “Arsenal have woken up.” Ellis also introduced some of Arsenal’s recruitment processes to the women’s team.
The under-16 team were reintegrated at London Colney and David Horseman, a highly regarded coach, was added to the staff. Ellis made efforts to bring Jack Wilshere back into the academy, wanting that Arsenal connection embedded into the coaching leadership and conscious of the need to reintroduce a winning culture to the academy. Ultimately, however, an agreement with Wilshere could not be found.
Against the backdrop of Ellis’ review, Per Mertesacker announced his decision to step down as academy manager at the end of the season and pursue a new challenge. The expectation was that Ellis would lead the search for a successor.
And then, an abrupt departure. The parting of ways appears to reflect an unexpected restructure: rather than reporting into Ellis, the new academy manager will report directly into Berta. In the light of that decision, Ellis’ role, remit and authority were suddenly thrown into question.
Many staff were surprised by the news as Ellis was a popular figure at London Colney and was seen as a good leader. On the other hand, Arsenal finally appear to be embarking on a necessary evolution of their academy. So what next?
The profile Arsenal target for their next academy manager will be indicative of their plans moving forward. Jim Fraser, formerly of Chelsea, was one of the names Ellis had identified. Fraser’s reputation is built on youth recruitment, and his current position is with football agency Wasserman. Perhaps Arsenal see this as a role focused heavily on identifying and recruiting young talent.
It remains to be seen what ideas Berta — who has added Napoli’s former head of scouting, Maurizio Micheli, to his staff — may have for the academy. Until now, he has not had much direct involvement.
Ellis joins a growing list of respected personnel who have left over the last 18 months. Edu, Ayto, Wilshere, Lewis, and Mertesacker have also gone.
Part of that is the inevitable churn of football; a major departure, such as Edu’s, is always likely to have a knock-on effect, particularly for those who effectively formed his department.
But the thinning out of the football decision-makers also suggests a concentration of power with Berta, and most obviously with manager Arteta. At first-team level, that appears to be delivering results. Beyond that, there is still much work to do.