Arsenal staff profiles

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

Edu

Nationality: Brazilian

The Brazilian was part of the Invincibles side and played five seasons for the Gunners. Returned to the club to take up this new role in July 2019, following three years as general co-ordinator for the Brazil national team.

DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL OPERATIONS

Richard Garlick

Nationality: English

Responsible for "football operations in the first team and Academy, all player contract management and relationships with football's governing bodies." Previously Director of Football with the Premier League and Director of Football Administration for West Brom.

MANAGER

Mikel Arteta

Nationality: Spanish

Spent five seasons as a player at Arsenal after stints with Rangers and Everton. Brought to Manchester City by Pep Guardiola in the summer of 2016. Was appointed Arsenal manager on December 20th 2019, having previously been interviewed for the job when Unai Emery was cchosen.

ASSISTANT

Steve Round

Nationality: English

Worked with Arteta the player when he was a coach at Everton. Has also coached with Manchester United and England and was Director of Football at Aston Villa for two years.

ASSISTANT

Albert Stuivenberg

Nationality: Dutch

Was number two to Louis Van Gaal at Manchester United and also managed Genk in Belgium. Will continue to work for Wales alongside manager Ryan Giggs until the end of Euro 2020.

GOALKEEPER COACH

Inaki Cana Pavon

Nationality: Spanish

Joined from Brentford, where he had worked since the summer of 2018, in December 2019. Prior to the Bees, he was with FC Nordsjælland in Denmark.

ASSISTANT

Miguel Molina

Nationality: Spanish

Hired from Atletico Madrid. An expert at integrating the physical and mental elements of the game into training sessions.

ASSISTANT

Carlos Cuesta

Nationality: Spanish

Only 25, but already a Uefa Pro Licence holder who has worked for Atletico Madrid and Juventus. Got to know Arteta during a study visit with Manchester City in August 2018.

SET PIECE SPECIALIST

Nicolas Jover

Nationality: French

Joined Arsenal in July 2021, replacing Andreas Georgson. Had spent the previous two seasons at Manchester City and made a big impact as their first set piece coach. Previously worked for Brentford, Croatia and Montpellier.

HEAD OF PERFORMANCE

Shad Forsythe

Nationality: American

Washington State University graduate, who worked with the German national side for a decade. Hired by Arsenal following 2014 World Cup, which Germany won. Outlasted Darren Burgess, who arrived with the same title in June 2017 but was sacked two years later.

HEAD OF PSYCHOLOGY & PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

David Priestley

Nationality: English

With Arsenal since July 2014 and responsible for culture, values and the development of a high-performance environment. Previously spent five years with rugby union side Saracens.

LEAD SPORTS SCIENTIST

Tom Allen

Nationality: English

Joined the Gunners from Aston Villa in August 2017. Had started with Villa in 2011 as an intern, working his way up to lead sports scientist.

LEAD PERFORMANCE NUTRITIONIST

Laura Andrews

Nationality: English

Joined from QPR in November 2019 and promoted from Academy to first team in September 2020. Replaced Richard Allison in the role. Wrote this piece for TGG on protein bars in 2018.

STRENGTH & CONDITIONING

Sam Wilson

Nationality: English

Joined Arsenal in 2014. Promoted to the first team at the start of the 2018/19 season.

STRENGTH & CONDITIONING

Barry Solan

Nationality: English

Worked with the Polish national team before joining Arsenal in July 2015.

EXECUTIVE CHEF

Darren Taylor

Nationality: English

Joined Arsenal in 2016 after nine years with Chelsea. Has explained: “Before each trip I liaise with the hotels, source top-quality produce and conduct a series of meetings in order to create a harmonious environment for my players, management and technical team."

HEAD OF MEDICAL SERVICES

Gary O'Driscoll

Nationality: English

Former Ireland rugby team doctor and a veteran of two British Lions tours. Arsenal doctor since 2009. Promoted to replace Colin Lewin as Head of Medical in June 2017.

DOCTOR

Flo Newton

Nationality: English

Joined the Academy in 2015 and promoted to first team in May 2020.

SENIOR PHYSIO

Jordan Reece

Nationality: English

Joined Arsenal Academy in December 2012 from Crystal Palace. Promoted to first team as part of the big medical revamp in the summer of 2018.

SENIOR PHYSIO

Simon Murphy

Nationality: English

Arrived from Leicester City, where he was also Senior Physio, in July 2021. Spent a total of seven-and-a-half years with the Foxes, having previously been Head Physio at Mansfield Town.

PHYSIO

Ricky O'Donoghue

Nationality: English

Joined from Crystal Palace in summer of 2020 when Paulo Barreira departed.

SOFT TISSUE THERAPIST

Takahiro Yamamoto

Nationality: Japanese

Made name in Italy and worked with Sam Allardyce at Bolton/ West Ham. Moved to the Gunners in July 2015.

LEAD ANALYST

James Krause

Nationality: English

Promoted from the U23s to the first team in September 2020, following Mark Curtis's move into the scouting department. Joined the club in September 2015 from Ipswich.

FOOTBALL METHODOLOGY ANALYST

Kevin Balvers

Nationality: Dutch

Appointed to this new role in July 2021. Previously held same position at Malmo in Sweden - and had done it on a freelance basis for Barcelona. Also a video analyst at Vitesse Arnhem in his homeland for six years.

ANALYST

Sam Hayball

Nationality: English

Joined Arsenal straight from University in February 2014 as junior Academy analyst. Promoted to the first team as assistant analyst in June 2016 and then to analyst in March 2019.

ANALYST

Stephen Collins

Nationality: English

Promoted from the Academy in June 2019. Joined the Gunners in August 2016, initially as a consultant, before getting a full-time job in June 2017. Had previously worked with Lincoln City, Doncaster Belles and Wales Hockey.

HEAD OF SOFTWARE & ANALYTICS

Chris Dove

Nationality: American

Appointed in July 2021, having spent the previous six years with StatDNA, Arsenal's data science arm. Had worked as a software engineer with Microsoft for a decade prior to that. Replaced the long-serving Sarah Rudd at Arsenal.

ANALYTICS STRATEGY AND APPLICATION

Tolly Coburn

Nationality: English

First joined as an analyst assistant in August 2016 and promoted to Analytics Strategy and Application in June 2019, with a focus on providing visualisations and insights from data. Moved up further to Data Analytics Lead in February 2022.

DATA SCIENTIST

Mikhail Zhilkin

Nationality: Russian

May have seemed a left-field appointment, but potentially a very important one. Launched two of the most successful Candy Crush games while at King.com and is a master of science in physics and maths. Darren Burgess hopes his insights can help enhance training and reduce injuries.

DATA SCIENTIST

Susana Ferreras

Nationality: Spanish

Worked as a data scientist for communications companies Telefonica and Vodafone, specialising in "social network analysis, churn reduction, customer acquisition, influence spreading and predictive modelling", before joining Arsenal in October 2018.

LOANS MANAGER

Ben Knapper

Nationality: English

Joined from Prozone to become an analyst in 2010. Promoted to Lead Analyst in June 2015 before becoming the club's first loans manager in February 2019. Part of Edu's 'Football Intelligence Team.'

LOANS CO-ORDINATOR

Sam Hayball

Nationality: English

Joined Arsenal straight from University in February 2014 as junior Academy analyst. Promoted to the first team as assistant analyst in June 2016 and then to analyst in March 2019. In January 2021 he was promoted again, to Loans Co-Ordinator.