Newcastle United have appointed Huddersfield Town's Callum Walsh as their new head of sports science.
Newcastle advertised for the position earlier this summer following the departure of Jamie Harley, who left the club after 11 seasons at St James' Park.
ChronicleLive previously revealed that Harley left on good terms and has nothing but positive things to say about those he worked with.
READ MORE: Joe Willock tells Allan Saint-Maximin he misses him
The timing of Harley's departure gave Newcastle a window to get a replacement in place for the start of pre-season and Walsh has now joined the club from Huddersfield after spells as the Terriers' head of physical performance and senior physical performance coach.
Walsh has been working alongside assistant sports scientist James Allan and first-team sports scientist and analyst John Fitzpatrick at Newcastle's training ground this week as the players are put through their paces following their summer breaks.
In his role at Huddersfield, under Marcelo Bielsa disciple Carlos Corberan, Walsh assessed training loads, helped the first-team's injured players when they were cleared to return to action and led warm ups on match days.
Walsh, like Harley, is big on player feedback. In fact, Huddersfield's first-team squad were required to fill in a questionnaire every morning as part of a daily wellness check and the players' opinions were taken on board when it came to deciding training times after late night games, for example.
Walsh has worked in the Premier League before with both Huddersfield and Cardiff and was actually one of the youngest coaches operating in the top-flight with the Bluebirds at the age of 28 back in 2013.
The Somerset native also has previous experience with the Aspire Academy, EXOS, Liverpool's academy, Wigan Athletic, Cardiff City, Under Armour, the IMG Academy and Shrewsbury Town but this role with Newcastle is his biggest to date.
Working closely with Paul Catterson, the club's doctor, Newcastle wanted an individual who could 'lead, deliver and enhance the club's sports science provision in line with the club's strategic goals to prevent injury and enhance individual and team performance within the first-team squad'.
Among the responsibilities listed in the job description were 'overseeing the delivery of monitoring, profiling and evaluation of all first-team squad players to ensure that strength and conditioning programmes are in place for all and that each player's physical development requirements are tailored to their specific needs and priorities'.
Walsh will also have to 'manage and lead the development of long-term load and athletic planning'; 'design and/or enhance existing evidence-based protocols for return to train and return to play processes'; 'develop and deliver enhanced analysis and reporting on sports science performance and outcomes to ensure our approach is insights led'; and 'ensure the latest clinical, scientific and technical innovations for applied practice are implemented'.
