Stoke City summer makeover as new boy gets eye-catching comparison

Jon Walters believes Stoke City have put together an elite sports science department led by the arrivals of Damian Roden, Matt Radcliffe and Mark Sertori. Stoke might have felt cursed at points last winter when key man after key man was laid low with injuries – and the quantity of impact injuries seemed to lead to muscle injuries to other players in a strained squad.

Some absences are unavoidable but the top brass set themselves a task of making sure they are doing everything possible to maximise availability.

Roden, who had been highly rated by players including Walters during Mark Hughes’ time as manager, has returned as head of medical and performance while Radcliffe and Sertori come armed with impressive CVs to work alongside him at Clayton Wood.

Walters said: “Over the past 12 months we’ve probably seen the biggest turnover of staff on the medical and sports science side. Damian Roden is someone I tried to bring back to the club a couple of years ago. Damian and Matt Radcliffe and someone who Mark Robins knows since he was very young, Mark Sertori – who has just been head of performance at Roma and was at Man City for 12 years and with England.

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“We feel like we’ve got a really, really strong group and that is the engine room for the players. Keeping players on the pitch, helping them get better and perform and creating elite athletes is so important because the more players you have available, the more chance of success you have and the less you have to spend on the player squad.

“We are trying to grow the club in all departments, whether it be sports science, data, technology as well as ultimately recruitment and getting that right. We’ve brought Stuart Harvey into the club and he really helped Sunderland go on their journey from League One to the Premier League. He’s a really good guy, really knowledgeable so we have to tap into his insights and he’s helping me across everything.

“It feels like we’ve got a really strong, stable part of the club and now it’s just about turning that into performances on the pitch. For that you need players who are fit, available and a better quality of player as well. We want to get there. I think last year, we all felt it at the start of the season – we were third in terms of spending time in the top two and in the top six for spending time in the top six.

“But partly through injuries and bad form, we fell apart and it was disappointing but we have a real fresh start and there’s a feeling around the place. We’ve been able to go out and sign Ethan Galbraith for X amount and I’d put him on a par with Hayden Hackney as one of the best midfielders in the division last year. We were able to make those signings and make sure everyone knows we’re serious about the top eight and being there.

Robins, who grew up around in the same Manchester football circles as Sertori, has been impressed with how that department has taken shape.

He said: “We’ve got people in that Jon has got in that are elite in their field, experts in their field. They can help everything from times of training to who is training and what they’re able to do. We’ve changed the way they train and we talked about in the summer whether days in are different. I don’t want to go into too much detail but we’ve got a way of training where we will get stronger and fitter over the course of the season. That’s not to say we’re not fit now. You’ve seen us playing, they look quite sharp – but there is miles more to come.

“These people have got a real understanding of what it takes to keep people on the pitch, keep people fit and moving forward.

“The training facility is just awesome. You feel lucky coming into training every day. Players we speak to, it’s an unbelievable selling point – and the people who populate it bring it to life. The people who Jon has put in there are absolutely brilliant. On the back of that there is a feel good factor, players want to work.”

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