Power heading up Liverpool's revamped Medical & Performance department
Written by Simon Austin — September 19, 2024
Liverpool have made a series of changes to their medical and performance department, which is now headed up by Dr Jonathan Power.
Following the departure of Manager Jurgen Klopp at the end of last season, fellow Germans Andreas Kornmayer, the long-standing Head of Fitness and Conditioning, and Andreas Schlumberger, the Head of Recovery and Performance, also departed.
That left a void at the top of the Performance and Medical department. Ruben Peeters arrived with new boss Arne Slot in the summer as Lead Physical Performance Coach, but his work is focussed on day-to-day team preparation and matchday.
With this in mind, Power, who joined the club in April 2023 as Team Doctor, will now take a strategic oversight of a unified department. Dr Amit Pannu has come in to work alongside him as First Team Doctor, having worked for Derby County for the last seven years.
Dr Sarah Lindsay, who had worked with the First Team for two seasons, left earlier in the summer. Frigyes Vanden Auweele, who joined Liverpool in July 2022 as Head of Osteopathy, has also departed.
Osteopathy is a means of detecting, treating and preventing health problems by moving, stretching and massaging muscles and joints.
Meanwhile, Conall Murtagh has been promoted to Head of Physical Performance by Liverpool. The former Northern Ireland U21 player, who holds the UEFA A Licence, joined as an Academy Fitness Coach in July 2012 before being promoted to first-team duties in 2017.
The club have also split their physios into performance and medical, following the lead of Tottenham and Chelsea, with Head Physio Lee Nobes taking on the title of Head Rebab Physio and Chris Morgan becoming Head Performance Physio.
Nobes joined Liverpool from Manchester City in 2018, while Morgan returned as Senior Physio in 2020, having previously been Head Physio during a decade with the Reds from 2006 to 2016.
We have previously explored why more clubs are choosing to split their physios between performance and rehab. Dave Fevre, who was Manchester United's Head Physio when they won the Treble, told TGG: “More big clubs are starting to have this distinction, with the Performance Physios focused on matchday and trauma and the Rehab Physios on gym and pitch-based rehab.
“You could say it’s becoming more specialised and also reflects the fact that clubs are now able to have bigger staffs. Some physios like doing the matches and vice versa."