Arsenal have revealed a major overhaul in their backroom staff for next season, with 10 members of staff leaving. Chief executive Ivan Gazidis gave his thanks to everyone for their hard work and wished them well in their future endeavours.
He said: “All these people have played a huge part in the club’s success and development over many years. We thank them for all their hard work and wish them all the best for the future.”
First team coaches Neil Banfield, Tony Colbert, Jens Lehmann, Gerry Peyton and Boro Primorac; Head of Medical Services, Colin Lewin; Physiotherapists Andy Rolls and Ben Ashworth; Osteopath Dr Philippe Boixel and Travel Manager Paul Johnson have left Arsenal.
Jens Lehmann has left Arsenal as first-team coach.
First Team Assistant Head Coach, Juan Carlos Carcedo; First Team Assistant Head Coach, Steve Bould; First Team Coach, Pablo Villanueva; Director of High Performance, Darren Burgess; Strength and Conditioning Coach, Julen Masach; Goalkeeping Coach, Javi Garcia; Goalkeeping Coach, Sal Bibbo and Data/Video Analyst, Victor Manas will make up the backroom staff for next season.
Arsenal have been very busy in 2018, building a team around the head coach to ensure the club are run successfully post-Arsene Wenger. The Gunners finished sixth in the Premier League and were trophyless for the second time in three seasons. They needed to make positive changes and haven’t been shy about overseeing an overhaul for the greater good.
On the pitch, they’ve brought in Stephan Lichtsteiner to provide experience in defence and cover at right-back, while Sokratis Papastathopoulos will join Rob Holding, Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi, Calum Chambers and Konstantinos Mavropanos at centre-back.
Bernd Leno is close to signing to compete with Petr Cech and David Ospina for a starting place in goal, while Lucas Torreira could be the next addition to central midfield – a problem are for some time.
It’s good to see Arsenal moving so quickly to land their targets and it’s heartening that Emery has been allowed to choose his backroom staff for next season. Steve Bould will now have a chance to prove his coaching worth, having previously been No.2 to Wenger for many years, while Darren Burgess’ services as a Director of High Performance have been retained.
Arsenal still have a lot of work to do before they’ll be fully ready for the new season – securing new deals for Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey – but supporters should be pleased with how much progress has been made so far.
