Praise for Suarez & Gerrard from departing Burgess

Darren Burgess, the head of fitness and conditioning at Liverpool, is leaving the club after two years in the job.

The likeable Australian was part of an Australian trio brought in by Rafa Benitez but implemented shortly after the Spaniard left the club back in summer 2010. Burgess was joined by Dr. Peter Brukner, who left the club back in April and physio Phil Coles who it has been revealed has also left the club.

Explaining the decision, Burgess said “Brendan (Rodgers) wanted to bring in some staff from Swansea, and Brendan has been fantastic, but my role has changed and its not really worth living on the other side of the world for.”

Rodgers brought with him Glen Driscoll from Swansea – who also worked with Rodgers at Reading and Chelsea – as the head of performance. “My role covers medical science and that’s integrated into the practical training methodology Brendan has brought in,” explained Driscoll previously.

Burgess told Fox Sports Australia that he is to leave the Premier League. “It’s tough, because I worked for 15 years to try and get into the EPL, it was my dream. But I leave thinking it’s the right thing for my family.”

Burgess praised the intensity of forward Luis Suarez;

“Luis Suarez’s training intensity is unlike anything I’ve ever worked with in any code. He just cannot lose.”

“Sometimes, as a coach, you have to make up numbers in training, and this happened in the early days when he arrived, because he was serving a suspension from his days in Holland.”
“He booted the hell out of me. I looked angrily at him, but he just gesticulated as if to say … when you are on the field, you are one of us!”

And on Gerrard he praised;

“I’ve never seen anyone strike a ball as well in any code of football. When the big clubs play at Anfield, the opposition players all want Stevie’s jersey. The respect is amazing.”

Liverpool FC today confirmed the departure of Burgess, and Spaniard Pep Segura – the highly influential former Barcelona academy manager.

Liverpool today confirmed Pep Segura and Darren Burgess have left the club.

Segura joined the Reds in May 2009 and was appointed as technical manager at the Academy. The Spaniard also had a temporary spell in charge of the reserve team and, more recently, was technical director at the Kirkby youth complex.

Head of fitness and conditioning, Burgess moved to Melwood from the Australian national team following the 2010 World Cup finals.

Liverpool Football Club would like to thank both Pep and Darren for their work and wish them all the best for the future.

Best of luck to Pep and Darren.

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