Arsenal are carrying out an internal investigation, with Tom Allen, the club’s head of sports science and performance, set to leave Emirates, following in the footsteps of his medical director.
Tom Allen will leave Arsenal’s staff
Arsenal will also see one of Mikel Arteta’s lieutenants leave this summer, with the departure of Tom Allen, the club’s head of sports science and performance.
Last month, the Gunners sacked medical director Dr Zafar Iqbal. His departure came as a surprise, with Allen being another senior figure who will no longer be part of Arteta’s backroom staff. Allen has been at the Emirates Stadium for nine years, joining in 2017 having previously been with Aston Villa.
Injuries to some of Arsenal’s key players have caused them to look internally and assess how they can prevent it in the future. Arteta encouraged an old acquaintance, Spanish physiotherapist Joaquín Acedo, to reconsider. Without key players, hopes for the season so far were in danger of being thwarted.
Mr Allen is not the only influential figure away from the red side of north London. Another popular member of the first-team staff, Sam Wilson, will also be leaving the club. He is the lead physical performance coach and has been with Arsenal’s records for 12 years. According to the Telegraph, the player is expected to join a club in Europe.
Arteta has adopted an intense game plan and is operating with fewer players than many of his rivals, which ultimately puts more strain on individuals. But the club also wants to do everything it can to protect him from injury.
Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard missed significant periods of last season, while Julian Timber was unable to recover in time for the start of the Champions League final and was ultimately forced to miss the World Cup.
Arsenal will be hoping to build on a season in which they won the Premier League for the first time in 22 years. Their ability to overcome late-season instability was also a big plus after years of near-misses and losing close games. However, they were unable to score a memorable double in Europe.
Tom Allen is known to many fans as a regular at warm-ups.
Despite taking an early lead, PSG ultimately won the European Cup after a penalty shootout, and Arsenal’s defensive style was criticized by some experts. This sparked a discussion about the Gunners needing to improve their quality in the final third, with Arteta confirming the club will take action to take the Gunners to greater heights.
“We will start making some very important decisions. We want to reach another level,” he said. “They are more than capable of doing that, so we have to show that ambition, but it requires us to be very, very ambitious, very fast and very smart.”
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