Arsenal technical director James Ellis has reportedly left the club with immediate effect, just months after being promoted to work alongside sporting director Andrea Berta on recruitment.
Arsenal are understood to have made another behind-the-scenes change, with technical director James Ellis reportedly leaving his role with immediate effect. The news was broken by Arsenal insider account Hand of Arsenal on X on Friday afternoon, stating that Ellis has departed only a few months after stepping up into the position.
There has been no formal confirmation from Arsenal at the time of writing, and the club have yet to publish any update on their official channels. However, the report suggests a swift end to Ellis’s time as technical director, a role he was promoted into last summer as part of a wider restructuring of the football department.
Ellis had been tasked with supporting Andrea Berta on recruitment and broader squad planning, acting as a link between the scouting operation, the academy and the first-team staff. His brief covered long-term player pathways as well as immediate market work, making the position a key part of the club’s medium-term strategy.
Before his promotion, Ellis worked within Arsenal’s talent identification structure, progressing from a domestic scouting role into a senior position in recruitment. His elevation to technical director was seen as a move designed to give Berta a dedicated lieutenant focused on aligning scouting, data and coaching requirements across the club.
If his departure is confirmed, attention will turn to how Arsenal choose to fill or redistribute the responsibilities attached to the role. Berta already leads on first-team recruitment and contract strategy, while other senior figures in football operations are heavily involved in planning. Whether the club opt for a direct replacement or a further reshaping of the structure will be an important signal about how they intend to manage squad building in the next phase of the project.