Crystal Palace have hired Steve Hetzke as their new head of academy operations and performance director.
Hetzke has previously worked as the head of academy recruitment at Swansea City, while he was also employed by the Premier League to oversee academy football as a technical monitor.
Palace, however, have now appointed the 63-year-old to oversee their academy operation as the club continues to revamp its youth setup.
Hetzke will fill the role left by Steve Higham, who joined Manchester United last summer, as the Eagles push towards making their academy achieve the top rank of Category 1 status.
Key to those aspirations are the redevelopment of Palace’s academy facilities in Beckenham and in December the club acquired a long-term lease for their academy site, which will last for at least 75 years.
Under the term of the agreement, the club will take control of the site whilst the current tenant, Goals Beckenham North, will leave within a year, allowing Palace to revamp the facility into one which meets Category 1 standards.
The club hope this will help to develop more young talent, who can follow in the footsteps of academy graduates Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Wilfried Zaha.
