Man City stalwart Sertori appointed Head of Performance at Burnley

Sertori was a key member of Manchester City's backroom staff

Sertori was a key member of Manchester City's backroom staff

MARK SERTORI has been appointed Head of Performance and Player Care at newly-promoted Burnley.

The move reunites him with Burnley boss Vincent Kompany, with whom he worked at Manchester City. Sertori left the Treble winners in December after 14 years' service, although he has only this week formally signed for the Clarets.

The former pro footballer, who played as both a striker and centre-half for teams including Scunthorpe United and Wrexham during an 18-year career, was a true City legend.

His official title was Sports Therapist, but this only conveyed a part of what he contributed to the club, because he was a friend and confidante of the players and key to the culture at the club.

His LinkedIn page has testimonials from the likes of John Stones (“Mark is more to me than a work colleague, he is now also a close friend and he has always been there for me”) and Fabian Delph (“a truly remarkable human being and a friend for life").

Mike Forde, the former Chelsea Director of Football Operations, with whom he worked at Bolton, describes Sertori as "an instrumental part of multiple high-performance organisations over the past two decades."

Sertori worked with England as a therapist and masseur for almost a decade (2008 to 2017) alongside his club role. He trained as a sports therapist with the PFA and joined City under Sven-Goran Eriksson, going on to work with Mark Hughes, Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini and Pep Guardiola.

Burnley have been without a Head of Performance since Mark Howard (now at Everton) left the club in August.

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