Latics have announced the appointment of Louis Dean as the club’s new academy director.

Dean has served as manager of the youth team since February and will now oversee the whole academy set-up.

He will also remain in charge of the Under-19s team, as well as working alongside David Unsworth and Francis Jeffers with the goal of creating “a more structured pathway for youngsters to progress”.

“We have an incredibly exciting vision for the academy in helping to nurture the best talent in the local area in a way that benefits individual players and the club,” said Dean.

“We want to have the best academy in the area and that is the goal for all the staff who work here. We’ve got a very proud track record of developing our own talent at this club and collectively we want to take that to the next level.

“There are some very exciting plans behind the scenes, the academy is now at the forefront of the club’s thinking and I’m extremely proud to be overseeing its development.”

Dean hopes that the proposed B Team, which will be managed by Jeffers, will help bridge the gap between youth football and the first-team picture at Boundary Park.

He added: “We’ve had some excellent conversations with the new management at the club in terms of the long-term aims for the academy and we’re all excited about looking to deliver those goals.

“The new first team manager has got a magnificent background in academy football and is very keen to link all of the arms of the club together.

“With plans in place to put together a B Team, we’ve shown that we are now a forward-thinking club which wants to do right for the players and help to bridge the gap between youth development football and the senior game.”

The academy begin their FA Youth Cup campaign tonight against AFC Blackpool at the Vastacare Stadium (KO 7:45pm).