Arsenal staff profiles
Training Ground Guru Staff Profiles – Arsenal
Pen pics of Arsenal's coaching, science, medicine and analytics staff. To see staff profiles for other clubs, click here.
FOOTBALL EXECUTIVES
HEAD OF FOOTBALL RELATIONS
Raul Sanllehi
Nationality: Spanish
Effectively the club's Director of Football - the same role he held at Barcelona for 14 years. Leads player negotiations and liaises with governing bodies - an area Arsenal have been weak in since the departure of David Dein.
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.
COACHING
INTERIM HEAD COACH
Freddie Ljungberg
Nationality: Swedish
Swapped jobs with Steve Bould in June 2019, with the latter taking on the U23s. Won two Premier League titles and three FA Cups (scoring the winner in 2002) as a player for the Gunners. Since retiring he has been assistant at Wolfsburg and then coached Arsenal's U9s, U15s and U23s. Stepped into the breach when Unai Emery was sacked at the end of November 2019.
GOALKEEPING COACH
Sal Bibbo
Nationality: English
Journeyman player who joined Reading as a goalkeeper coach in 2006. Moved to the Emirates in July 2017. Stayed after Emery arrival.
PERFORMANCE & MEDICAL
HEAD OF PERFORMANCE
Shad Forsythe
Nationality: American
Washington State University graduate worked with German national side for a decade. Hired by Arsenal following 2014 World Cup, which Germany won.
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.
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.
STRENGTH & CONDITIONING COACH
Sam Wilson
Nationality: English
Joined Arsenal in 2014. Promoted to the first team at the start of the 2018/19 season.
SENIOR PHYSIO
Chris Morgan
Nationality: English
Quit as Head Physio of Crystal Palace in May, to "return North". Subsequently appointed by Arsenal, having initially been due to join Manchester City Academy. Was at Liverpool for 11 years, with the last four as Head Physio. Worked with Arsenal Head of Performance Darren Burgess at Anfield.
REHAB PHYSIO
Tim Parham
Nationality: Australian
Head of Rehab at Port Adelaide since November 2014. Worked with Burgess at the AFL side. Appointed by Arsenal in July 2018.
PHYSIO
Paulo Barreira
Nationality: Portuguese
Worked with Morgan and Burgess at Liverpool. Appointed by Arsenal towards the end of the 2017/18 season.
PHYSIO
Jordan Reece
Nationality: English
Joined Arsenal Academy in December 2012 from Crystal Palace. Promoted to first team as part of the massive medical revamp this summer.
STRENGTH & CONDITIONING
Barry Solan
Nationality: Irish
Did work with the Polish national team before joining Arsenal in July 2015.
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.
NUTRITIONIST
Richard Allison
Nationality: English
Joined the club in July 2017, replacing James Collins. Previously worked for Aspetar in Qatar for almost five years. A former Royal Marine commando. Revealed more about his methods HERE.
ANALYSIS
SENIOR ANALYST
Mark Curtis
Nationality: English
Ex of Prozone, Cardiff and West Ham. With Arsenal since March 2013. Promoted to senior analyst after Ben Knapper became loan manager in February 2019.
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.
DATA SCIENCE
VICE PRESIDENT OF SOFTWARE AND ANALYTICS
Sarah Rudd
Nationality: American
Has worked for StatsDNA, Arsenal's in-house data and analytics company, since January 2012 and heads up the club's data science operation.
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.
ANALYTICS STRATEGY AND APPLICATION
Tolly Coburn
Nationality: English
First joined as an analyst assistant in August 2016 and promoted to his current role in June 2019. Focus on providing visualisations and insights from data.
OTHER
PLAYER CONTRACTS
Hussein Fahmy
Nationality: English
Previously Commercial and Business Affairs Director with Team Sky. Joined in June 2017. Contract negotiations had been seen as an area of weakness for the Gunners, with several key players allowed to reach final year of their deals.
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.
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