Ipswich Town Under 18s coach Adem Atay has left the club to join Aston Villa.

Atay, who has been at the helm of a successful Blues youth side in recent years, took his team to the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup in 2020/21 before winning the Professional Development League Cup last month.

But he has now moved to Villa, with the Premier League side announcing his arrival as an ‘Under 18 professional development coach’.

He moves to Villa Park at the same time as another former Ipswich academy coach, Gerard Nash.

Nash, who coached Town’s Under 23s until his departure a year ago, takes on the role of ‘lead professional development phase coach’. He helped coach the Ipswich first-team alongside Bryan Klug, following Mick McCarthy’s exit in 2018.

The pair join Villa at the same time as Tony Carss, who will lead the club’s Under 23s.

Mark Harrison, Villa’s academy manager, said: “We are delighted that Tony, Gerrard and Adem are joining us after a thorough recruitment process.

“They will bring with them a wealth of experience in player development and their appointments will also strengthen our player development coaching strategy.

“This will allow us to support individual player development further as we will now have three outfield coaches at both Under-23 and Under-18 level.”

He added: “These appointments underline again the central importance which the Board place on the constant evolution and development of our academy."

Town have yet to confirm Atay’s departure.