Arsenal 'hold talks with Tony Adams' about coaching role with Gunners Under-18s

Former Arsenal captain Tony Adams remains in talks with the Gunners about a potential coaching role at the club. The 49-year-old served as Arsenal's captain for 14 years during his playing career and is apparently eyeing a position with the academy coaching staff.

Adams' former Arsenal teammate Thierry Henry recently turned down a job offer after being told by manager Arsene Wenger that he would need to walk away from his lucrative punditry role with Sky Sports. The move destroyed any chance of Adams and Henry working in partnership to develop the club's next generation of players.

Despite this, a source close to the club has revealed the possibility of Adams joining as an assistant to Under-18s boss Kwame Ampadu is still being discussed, ESPN reports. It is claimed that Henry's abrupt exit has had no impact on the situation of Adams, who has managed Wycombe Wanderers, Portsmouth and Azerbaijani club Gabala since he ended his playing career in 2002.

Adams also remains in the frame for a coaching role at Arsenal even though he has been an outspoken critic of Wenger in recent years, previously accusing the Frenchman of neglecting his team's defence. "I think Arsenal have struggled to get the balance right in recent years and this is as far as I will go," the Arsenal legend told Inside Futbol.

"I'm saying he [Wenger] has got a great offensive unit, but I think he is neglecting the defensive side and I think that's where the problem lies. If they strengthen that area I think they could go and win the league, but I think that's the error of the team."

Adams claimed Wenger has failed to properly replace the defenders who formed the backbone of Arsenal's Premier League-winning side of 2004, when they went through the campaign without losing a single league game. "When Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole left they were the last of the old guard who understood how to defend and prioritise that department," he said. "I think that when they left there was no-one else that understood that and the club hasn't been the same defensively since they left."