Arsenal u21 head coach to join Stoke

Porter is highly rated at Arsenal after nine years in the academy system and has also worked with the first team.

Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

Arsenal are set to lose Under-21 head coach Max Porter, with Stoke City agreeing a deal to add him to Mark Robins‘ backroom staff.

John Percy of the Telegraph reported on Monday: “Stoke City have agreed a deal with #Arsenal to appoint under-21s head coach Max Porter to Mark Robins’ backroom staff. Porter highly rated and has worked with Arsenal’s 1st team. Big show of support for Robins after a poor second half of the Championship season #scfc”

Porter’s exit will end a nine-year spell on Arsenal’s coaching staff, having first joined the club in 2017 as an Under-9s coach before working his way through the academy structure.

He progressed through roles with the Under-13s, Under-17s, then moved into the Professional Development Phase.

By 2022, he was working as Under-21s assistant coach and Under-19s head coach, placing him close to the final stages of the pathway from academy football towards the senior side.

That work led to his appointment as interim Arsenal Under-21 head coach in 2025 after Mehmet Ali‘s departure, before he took the role on a permanent basis.

Porter is highly regarded inside Arsenal for his work with young players and for helping connect the academy with the first team.

His experience working with the senior group has clearly counted in Stoke’s decision to bring him into Robins’ staff as part of a development-focused coaching appointment.

Losing a coach with Porter’s knowledge of the club’s academy structure will leave them needing to appoint a new Under-21 head coach, and could also mean further changes in academy responsibilities for others. Some are not too sad about that, noting that results last season were disappointing.

Reports say that Stoke’s move is also a clear show of support for Robins after a poor second half of the Championship season. They won only two of their last 12 games, losing eight.

For Porter, it represents a step into a senior backroom environment after nearly a decade of work inside one of the strongest academy systems in the country.

In other backroom news, as we reported yesterday, club doctor Zafar Iqbal has also been sacked with immediate effect.