Injury expert Ben Dinnery has been reacting to Leeds United’s partnership with Zone7, as per Football Insider.
The Lowdown: Leeds' Zone7 partnership
The Whites have acted fast in the summer transfer window, with moves for Brenden Aaronson, Rasmus Kristensen and Marc Roca already confirmed.
They have now linked up with artificial intelligence platform Zone7 in an attempt to reduce the number of injuries at Elland Road.
Zone7 confirmed the partnership via Twitter on Monday and are set to help Leeds by using their technologies to optimise player performance, seek to gain insights from data and help reduce the frequency of injuries.
The Latest: Dinnery reacts
Dinnery, who contributes for Sky Sports, was talking to Football Insider regarding Leeds’ latest partnership. He admitted that Leeds shouldn’t expect ‘overnight’ results but said that it is ‘very exciting’ news for the club.
The injury expert stated:
“We talked recently to the CEO of Zone7, Tal Brown. Their AI model is used to help reduce injury incidence and performance. They are a company that have been on my radar for a while.
“We spoke to Tal with regards to his involvement with Liverpool. We know all about their investment in the latest technologies to advance their team, minimise risk and reduce injury incidence.
“Leeds’ lack of strength in depth, as it was last season, has been discussed many times. It really came to fruition in the number of games missed.
“No team suffered more time-loss injuries in the top flight than Leeds. It was over 170. When you talk about additional strain on a threadbare squad because of injury, it’s obvious why they were struggling towards the end of the campaign.
“The important thing to remember is that this is not a magic bullet. Zone7 is not going to guarantee that it can reduce injury incidence overnight. It’s there to complement the work of the backroom staff, first and foremost.
“It doesn’t give definitive answers, it offers insights and analysis so staff can make informed decisions. The system uses millions of data points to protest conversations within the club.
“It has been highly successful across numerous teams and sports. It’s very exciting.”
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The Verdict: Good to see
The Whites missed a number of key players for large parts of the 2021/22 campaign due to injury, with just four players managing to start 30 games or more.
Patrick Bamford was hit the hardest and started just seven league fixtures, so linking up with Zone7 and looking to limit the amount of injuries that players pick up is a sensible move, and one from the Leeds striker could benefit the most out of anyone in Jesse Marsch's squad.
Dinnery, who has a background in medicine and data analysis, isn’t expecting imminent results from the technology, but he’s clearly excited about the partnership, so it seems to be a good move to help out Leeds' Head of Medicine and Performance Rob Price.