Liverpool are expected to announce the signing of Gary O’Driscoll from Arsenal imminently despite the Gunner’s efforts to keep him at the club.

Liverpool’s Andrew Massey, their head of medical, is off to join FIFA while Richie Partridge, their first team physio, will take up a role with the Qatar national team. As such, Liverpool have been looking around for replacements and have been trying to wrangle O’Driscoll away from Arsenal.

Although there is reportedly no start date yet for O’Driscoll with Liverpool, the Daily Telegraph report his arrival will be confirmed ‘imminently’.

We reported back at the start of the month that Arsenal were facing the very real prospect of losing their top doctor to Liverpool and were desperately trying to keep him at the club.

It seems they lost that battle.

O’Driscoll is widely regarded as one of the best in the business.

Having formerly worked with the Ireland and British Lions rugby teams, O’Driscoll has been with Arsenal since the start of 2009. It’s not hard, though, to see why Liverpool would be a much more attractive proposition at present, what with them being the best team in Europe.

In their exclusive report at the start of January, the Daily Mail claimed that a number of staff who remained at Arsenal after the great post-Wenger cull of 2018 were less than impressed with how their sacked colleagues were treated.

They didn’t say directly that was why O’Driscoll was considering leaving, but you can read below it’s what they wanted you to believe:

The 49-year-old, from Northern Ireland, was heavily involved in helping to design Arsenal’s medical facilities.

O’Driscoll is also considered an anti-doping expert and his departure is considered a be a big blow to Arsenal.