Latest news with #SudarshanGopaladesikan
New York Times
24-07-2025
- Business
- New York Times
‘Suds' Gopaladesikan: Newcastle's Microsoft graduate who found value in Lookman and Hojlund
Newcastle unveiled a new signing this week. It was not Bryan Mbeumo holding up a club scarf, nor was it Hugo Ekitike holding up a Brown Ale at The Strawberry. It was Sudarshan Gopaladesikan, a name so long the club shop will have to order new letters for its name and number printing should anyone want it on the back of a jersey. Except Gopaladesikan — 'Suds' for short — isn't an Alexander Isak replacement or a strike partner. He is Newcastle's new technical director. If you can't pronounce his name, don't know who he is and want to know what he does, look no further. Reports of Atalanta's decline were premature. An eighth-place finish in 2022, the lowest in Gian Piero Gasperini's near-decade-long tenure at the club, has since been forgotten. But at the time, some wondered if Atalanta were coming back down to earth, having flown so close to the sun that only shines on Serie A's elite. Advertisement The Milan clubs, a shambles when Gasperini pitched up in Lombardy, weren't missing out on the top four anymore. On the contrary, they were qualifying for the Champions League and winning things. Roma had appointed Jose Mourinho and he had delivered a trophy in his first year after The Friedkin Group backed him with a transfer spend in excess of €100m. Paul Pogba, meanwhile, was back for a second spell at Juventus, inspiring their fans, fleetingly, that the good times were around the corner again. In the end, Napoli were the ones quietly going about a tilt for the title under Luciano Spalletti. The overall picture was of a league with a renewed and widespread sense of competitiveness. For Atalanta, the loss of sporting director Giovanni Sartori did not augur well. He had built the Chievo teams that rose up the leagues and qualified for the Champions League. The business Sartori had done for Atalanta was every bit as good, even if it got little mainstream credit, such was Gasperini's lightning-rod association with the club's sudden reverse of fortunes from yo-yo club to contender. At his next club, Bologna, Sartori quickly showed what Atalanta might miss. Bologna followed Chievo and Atalanta in playing Champions League football for the first time in their history. Last season, they won the Coppa Italia after 51 years. But back to 2022. Atalanta's new majority shareholders, led by Steve Pagliuca of Bain Capital, had left the previous owners, the Percassi family, in place to manage the club on a day-to-day basis. The only surface change going on at Atalanta was the remodelling of the old Atleti Azzurri d'Italia into the brand spanking Gewiss Stadium. But, behind the scenes, the football department was undergoing a revamp. Tony D'Amico was hired as Sartori's replacement after assembling a Verona team that won promotion, finished in the top half of the Serie A table, and delivered major player-trading gains on a tiny budget. Lee Congerton, the former Leicester City and Celtic executive, was brought in to add international breadth to Atalanta's recruitment. Advertisement The owners, meanwhile, thought the time had come to build a data and analytics department. Being able to call upon supporting evidence to help with decision-making was what Pagliuca was used to not only in his day job at Bain, but as a co-owner of the Boston Celtics. Congerton knew just the person for the job. There was a kid at Benfica. Not a Seixal grad like Joao Felix or Ruben Dias. But still a wonderkid. He was a Microsoft graduate who, after rolling out a technical partnership with Real Madrid, was invited to found Benfica's first sports science department to the benefit of scouting, player-trading, tactical analysis, load-monitoring and player development. The kid was Sudarshan Gopaladesikan. 'I personally brought him from Benfica to Atalanta,' Congerton says. 'He had a good football education during his time at Benfica, and he helped me bring a 360 degree view to various transfer-market ideas.' How did that manifest itself? At a conference this year, Gopaladesikan showed his work on the signing of Ademola Lookman that summer. Congerton knew Lookman from his time at Leicester and thought his positional flexibility made him a good fit for Gasperini's way of attacking. The name did not generate great excitement. Lookman had bounced around a few clubs; Charlton then Everton, who loaned him to RB Leipzig, who signed him then loaned him to Fulham and Leicester. It created a bias. The market didn't rate him and his value at Leipzig took more of a hit when he was not reported as the in-house successor to Christopher Nkunku. Instead, Leipzig were lining up Lois Openda from Lens to replace their Chelsea-bound striker. It meant Lookman, then only 24, was available for just €10m. This was a snip when Gopaladesikan ran the data, weighting the leagues to see how transferrable his performance levels would be within Atalanta's game model. Contrary to the received wisdom on Lookman, Gopaladesikan's modelling showed the Nigeria international was the best of the rest in his position when compared with outliers like Mohamed Salah, Bukayo Saka and Raphinha. Advertisement 'Suds was instrumental in developing a state-of-the-art statistical analytics program for Atalanta,' Pagliuca says. 'These analytics have enhanced our capabilities in evaluating players to acquire and in match-game preparation. Atalanta has benefited greatly from his efforts and we're thankful to Suds for the passion and drive he brought to the club every day.' In the event Atalanta were to sell Lookman to Inter for a multiple of five this summer (negotiations continue as Atalanta stand by a €50million asking price), he would leave Bergamo with 52 goal involvements in three seasons, a Europa League winners' medal and man of the match award from that historic game against Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen. As midnight approached at the Aviva stadium, Lookman proudly posed for photos in the afterglow of his hat-trick in the final in Dublin, a display that secured the club its first trophy in nearly 60 years. It was an achievement that led him to being voted African Player of the Year later in 2024. Another signing who arrived in the same summer as Lookman was an unknown Dane from Sturm Graz. Rasmus Hojlund had been identified by Congerton and chief scout Gabriele Zamagna. The €21million Sturm Graz wanted for the teenager was considered a high price to pay by Atalanta. By grace of multiple Champions League qualifications and player-trading successes, they had only recently started buying players in that price bracket; players such as Ederson, Jeremie Boga, Luis Muriel and Merih Demiral. All of them were Serie-A proven. Hojlund, on the other hand, wasn't. Gopaladesikan helped the owners make a value judgement. Hojlund's movements on the pitch were mapped and overlaid on a visual representation of how Atalanta attack. They neatly filled a gap like a missing piece, completing a puzzle. Gasperini's willingness to develop youth and his uncanny knack for maximising the potential of strikers hardened the conviction to write Sturm Graz a cheque. Barely a year later, Atalanta sold Hojlund to Manchester United for a record €77m. Without overstepping Gasperini or his superiors in the football department, Gopaladesikan worked one-on-one with some players, particularly signings who didn't speak Italian, to help their integration and progression. The bonds he struck up with those players were meaningful and long-lasting. Understandably, Atalanta were reluctant to let him go and Newcastle had to be patient. Gopaladesikan's appointment was led by Paul Mitchell, the sporting director who left in May, having been in position for less than a year. His intention had been to build up a football department that bore a resemblance to Liverpool's model with Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards. By the time Gopaladesikan's visa came through, however, Mitchell was gone. He will report to a new sporting director, likely to be Nottingham Forest's chief football officer Ross Wilson, as will Jack Ross, who has been promoted to head of football strategy. Advertisement The question, for now, then is: what exactly does a technical director do? When clubs say: 'Trust the process' it is assumed this means follow a philosophy. In Newcastle's case, it is about understanding how the team plays under Eddie Howe, what he is striving for in terms of performance and how to support that across a number of different areas. It isn't only a case of modelling how Newcastle play and coming up with algorithms and filters to identify players that correspond with what Howe wants in specific roles. It is about match preparation and analysis that never loses sight of Howe's end goal. It is about individualised training to help players maximise their potential within Howe's system. It is about loaning players out to clubs that match up with how Newcastle play, so they can either come back to St James' Park better able to contribute or to be sold for money that helps the squad get closer to Howe's ideal. It is about joining up departments with this common goal in mind in support of the manager and the club's aims. The appointment, months in the making, may have taken time and the sequencing (a technical director before a sporting director) looks out of whack after Mitchell's abrupt departure. But the new Newcastle is gradually, belatedly taking shape.
The Hindu
23-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Who is Sudarshan Gopaladesikan? - Newcastle United's new Technical Director
Premier League club Newcastle United FC on Monday announced that it has appointed Sudarshan Gopaladesikan as its Technical Director ahead of the start of the next season. Sudarshan joined the club after a stint with Italian club Atalanta, where he was Director of Football Intelligence. He is set to lead the football data operations for Newcastle's men's, women's and academy teams. ALSO READ | Newcastle United legend Nolberto Solano named as Pakistan coach At Atalanta, he oversaw triumphs like the UEFA Europa League in the 2023-24 season and also the consecutive top five finishes in the Serie A. Before his tenure with Atalanta, he spent five years with Portuguese club Benfica as its Head of Sports Data Science. Sudarshan, who has Indian origins, has also worked as a Research Assistant at Infosys in India. Related Topics Newcastle United / Atalanta
New Indian Express
23-07-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
Infosys techie now Newcastle technical director
CHENNAI: Sudarshan Gopaladesikan, a one-time research assistant at Infosys in Bengaluru, has been appointed as technical director of English Premier League side Newcastle United. Newcastle, one of the richest clubs in world football thanks to their direct links with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), announced the news on their social media handle late on Monday. '... Sudarshan will lead the club's football data operations, working closely with Eddie Howe (head coach of the men's first team) and his coaching staff and the club's performance, medical, analysis, methodology and recruitment teams,' a club press release read. 'His role will be dedicated to implementing data-informed practices across all sporting departments throughout men's, women's and Academy teams.' Gopaladesikan started off as a techie before joining Portuguese giants Benfica where he oversaw the data science programme. At Atalanta in 2024, he saw the Italian Serie A oufit lift the UEFA Europa League. The Indian men's national team may not have many takers but several Indians as well as Indian origin people involved in football either work or have worked across top-tier clubs in Europe. Former Arsenal managing director Vinai Venkatesham holds a top management role at Tottenham. Krishnan A Seshadrinathan, currently a member at Rajasthan Royals, previously used to number crunch at Arsenal.
Time of India
22-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Meet Sudarshan Gopaladesikan: Indian-origin performance analyst who went from working for Infosys to joining Premier League giant Newcastle United
Newcastle United have made an interesting backroom addition with Sudarshan Gopaladesikan joining as Technical Director (Support Services). The Indian-origin expert brings years of experience in elite sports performance. His role will focus on improving player fitness, recovery, and preparation, areas that have become crucial in modern football's demanding calendar. A remarkable journey across sports Sudarshan started his career with an Infosys internship before moving to the US for a PhD in biokinesiology and physical therapy at the University of Southern California. He specialised in human movement and injury prevention. His first big break came with Major League Baseball side Los Angeles Dodgers. We have appointed Sudarshan Gopaladesikan as our new Technical Director 🤝Sudarshan joins after leaving Atalanta, where he was Director of Football Intelligence, and will lead football data operations for our men's, women's and Academy to Newcastle United, Suds! After his MLB stint, he joined the English Institute of Sport, working with Olympic athletes. That paved his path into football, first with Manchester City's City Football Group as Lead Data Scientist, focusing on player performance and injury analytics. Later, he became Head of Sports Science and Data at Chelsea. From Infosys to Premier League: Joining Newcastle United at 36 Sudarshan Gopaladesikan, now 36, is Newcastle's latest recruit in their push to strengthen off-pitch operations. Club CEO Darren Eales praised him as an 'innovative, forward-thinking leader' with a proven track record across multiple sports. His appointment also adds rare Indian representation in Premier League technical teams. So proud that someone of Indian origin is doing something massive in football. Sudarshan worked in Bengaluru for a while earlier in his life and he is such a role model for those in India who want to make it to the big leagues in football. Gopaladesikan expressed excitement at joining a club with 'a unique connection between the team, city, and fans.' He won't be involved in transfers but will be key in ensuring players stay fit and ready to compete at the highest level. Newcastle's long-term vision just got a significant boost with his expertise.
India Today
22-07-2025
- Business
- India Today
Who is Sudarshan Gopaladesikan? Newcastle United's Indian-origin technical director
Newcastle United have made a quiet but important addition to their football operations, appointing Indian-origin performance expert Sudarshan Gopaladesikan as Technical Director (Support Services). While he won't be involved in transfers or touchline decisions, Gopaladesikan steps into a key role that supports the very core of modern football — player performance, recovery, and appointment marks a rare moment for Indian representation in the Premier League's technical hierarchy — not as a player, but as a decision-maker shaping how a top club functions off the Chennai to the Champions League Gopaladesikan's journey into elite sport started far from the footballing limelight. After completing an internship at Infosys in India, he moved to the United States to pursue a PhD in biokinesiology and physical therapy at the University of Southern California. There, he developed expertise in human movement, injury prevention, and data-driven performance career in elite sport began with the Los Angeles Dodgers in Major League Baseball, followed by a stint at the English Institute of Sport — working with Olympic and high-performance athletes across disciplines."I'm delighted and honoured to be joining Newcastle United as Technical Director. Throughout my career, I've had the privilege of working with clubs that have deeply passionate fanbases and Newcastle stands out for its unique connection between the team, the city and its supporters," Gopaladesikan came calling soon after. He joined Manchester City's City Football Group as Lead Data Scientist, working within one of the most analytically advanced football structures in the world. His work focused on using data to improve player output and prevent injuries. He later moved to Chelsea as Head of Sports Science and Data, working at the heart of another top Premier League club's performance at just 36, he joins Newcastle United as they look to modernise and build a sustainable sporting structure for long-term success.'Sudarshan is an innovative, forward-thinking leader with experience across multiple sports,' said Newcastle CEO Darren Eales. 'He brings a track record of elite performance and will be an integral part of our future.'Gopaladesikan's role may not dominate headlines, but in the world of sports science and football intelligence, it's a vital one.- Ends
