Liverpool Lose Medical Chief To FIFA

Ballon d’Ors, Coach of the Year awards and Champions League trophies. The markers of excellence on the football pitch are easy to spot with Liverpool’s path back to the top of Europe’s elite duly littered with accolades. Recognition of distinction off the pitch, however, tends to be harder to come by in the sport. Instead, evidence of the quality of a club’s backroom staff tends to be measured in more nuanced was, such as reputation among peers or the level of demand from rivals for their services.

In that regard, the news that Liverpool are set to lose their Head of Medical Services, Andrew Massey to become Director of Medical at FIFA should—to use a seasonal idiom—serve as the proof in the pudding. He will be ending his six-and-a-half-year tenure at Anfield to join the sports global governing body on March 1 2020, per reporting from Training Ground Guru.

Hired by the Reds in 2013 as a doctor at the youth academy before achieving promotion to the first team setup the following year, Massey distinguished himself in his time within the Liverpool’s medical team. Building out the club’s personnel in that department has been one of manager, Jürgen Klopp’s focuses since arriving at Anfield, including the capture of Bayern Munich’s Andreas Kornmayer as the Reds’ Head of Fitness and Conditioning.

Massey is currently with the first team in Qatar for the Club World Cup and the search for a replacement will surely begin in earnest in the remaining three months of his tenure at Anfield. The hope will be that an appointment of similar quality will be found in short order. YNWA Andrew.