Report: Freddie Ljungberg Set To Replace Steve Bould In First-Team Set-Up

Unai Emery seems to have had enough of Steve Bould and wants to promote the impressive Freddie Ljungberg…

Former Arsenal winger Freddie Ljungberg is set to be promoted to first-team duties at the expense of assistant coach Steve Bould, football.london’s Layth Yousif reports.

Ljungberg is currently the manager of our U23 and U21 sides and has impressed in his debut season with many of the youngsters speaking highly of him.

While the team may have missed out on silverware, the players within the set-up are improving and many of them made their first-team debuts this season.

Those names include Bukayo Saka, Zech Medley and Emile Smith Rowe. Ljungberg and Unai Emery spoke of their close relationship earlier this season, with the Swede revealing that they’re in constant communication and share a footballing philosophy.

“We speak every week,” Ljungberg told the Daily Mail in September.

“We talk about players, about what we’re thinking. He’s very open, which helps me a lot.”

Steve Bould was the only surviving member of Arsene Wenger’s coaching regime and one hoped that his familiarity would aid Emery has he entered his first season in English football.

However, according to the report, Bould has cut a forlorn figure in training and very rarely contributes to any meaningful coaching.

His colleague, Juan Carlos Carcedo, is clearly a trusted member of Emery’s team and can often be seen giving enthusiastic gestures during games and the snippets from the training sessions that we see.

At the end of the Premier League U23 campaign, Ljungberg could be seen shaking the hands of all his coaching staff as well as staying behind to take pictures with a few fans – perhaps he knew that a new challenge awaits him.