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.
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.
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 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.
HEAD OF 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. Promoted to Head of Sport Science in summer of 2022 after departure of Head of Performance Shad Forsythe.
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.
LEAD PERFORMANCE PHYSIO
Simon Murphy
Nationality: English
Studied physiotherapy at Nottingham University before embarking on a career in football with Derby, Manfield and, for seven years, Leicester City. Progressed to become Head Physio with the Foxes. Joined Gunners as Senior Physio at start of 2021/22.
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.
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.
DATA SCIENTIST
Karun Singh
Nationality:
Joined in October 2022, having previously worked for Grammarly and Facebook in the United States. First full-time job in football, although he has been influencing the sport for a while. Helped to develop the metric of Expected Threat, which was invented by Sarah Rudd, and has spoken at several football conferences.
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.
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