Sign up to FREE email alerts from Mirror - Arsenal FC Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Arsenal have re­vamped their playing style at junior level.

The patient, passing game – the hallmark of manager Arsene Wenger since 1996 – has been altered by new Academy director Andries Jonker.

When the Dutchman, 52, succeeded Liam Brady, he claimed the academy system needed a complete overhaul and has changed the style demanded of the players at all levels outside the first team and the Under­-21s.

Jonker, a disciple of Manchester United’s Louis van Gaal, is a devotee of the pressing game the Old Trafford manager favours.

He wants youngsters to be brought up on a longer ball game, with pressing high up the field, rather than the pass­-and­-move style of the Wenger era.

The change has caused some surprise among the academy coaches, who wonder if the new style is the most appropriate way to help the development of young players.