Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk today confirmed that Spanish Doctor Paco Biosca has joined Chelsea as their new club doctor.
The 57 year-old replaces Bryan English in heading up the medical department at Cobham and arrives a little less than a week since Michael Essien suffered a serious knee injury in pre-season.
Biosca arrives with a reputation as one of Europe’s best, with his former club touting him as a man with “a contemporary understanding of football medicine and cutting-edge technology”.
Prior to his six-year spell in Donetsk, he worked with Lleida in Spain for over 25 years, and is the former President of both the European Federation of Orthopedics and Sports Traumatology and the Spanish Association of Football Teams Physicians.
The Blues had been linked with Lille club doctor Frank Le Gall but, as with many of this summer’s rumours, it appears to have been nothing more than a smokescreen for actual activity.
More as this develops.