Arsenal backroom staff member hired from Chelsea leaves club to take up new role

Masseur Manoel Marcelo Ribeiro left Chelsea to join Arsenal in the summer of 2024 after spending 15 years with the Blues

Popular Arsenal soft tissue therapist Manoel Marcelo Ribeiro has departed the club. Ribeiro, better known around the Sobha Realty Training Centre as 'Manny' or 'Manu', joined the Gunners from London rivals Chelsea in July 2024.

At the time, the appointment was widely regarded as a significant coup for Mikel Arteta's side as the experienced masseur had previously spent 15 trophy-laden years with the Blues, who he joined in 2009.

Mirror Football understands Ribeiro has decided to step away from professional football to kickstart his own business venture.

'Manny' spent around 17 months working for Arsenal and was part of the club's pre-season tour of the Far East this summer, prior to his exit.

It's understood he had formed close bonds with a host of key first-team players, not least Brazilian duo Gabriel Magalhaes and Gabriel Martinelli.

Ribeiro, who has around 25 years of experience in the field having also worked for West Ham, Fulham and Royal Ballet, was also hugely popular with Chelsea's Brazilian stars, namely Willian, Diego Costa, David Luiz, Jorginho and Thiago Silva, during his time in west London.

It's said both Kai Havertz and Jorginho used to joke that Ribeiro had missed them so much, he was left with no choice but to follow them across the capital to Arsenal.

Evidently, it's not just players that have switched between the two clubs in recent times, either as earlier this year, Chelsea pounced to secure the services of Arsenal’s Mark Mason as their new Assistant Head of Goalkeeping.

Mason had been with the Gunners since September 2023 and prior to that had spent time working under Phil Neville at Inter Miami.

Someone that has not long started work at Arsenal, however, is Maurizio Micheli, who was pictured in the director's box during last week's 2-0 Premier League win over Brentford.

The Italian arrives at the Emirates Stadium to strengthen Andrea Berta's recruitment team having previously headed up Napoli's scouting department since 2018.

During his stay in Italy, he was credited for his role in identifying top talents such as Marek Hamsik, Kim Min-jae, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, respectively.

The Gunners are back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Club Brugge in the Champions League following the agonising 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday.

Mikel Arteta could relish the chance to shuffle his pack and hand his stars key rest ahead of this weekend's top-flight home fixture against Wolves.