Chelsea bring back former first-team and Academy doctor Chris Hughes

Chelsea have quietly brought back yet another familiar face in the re-un-revitalized medical department (the exact makeup of which remains a bit of a mystery), though this time we’ve reached back a bit further than just last year.

As first reported by the Daily Mail, Chelsea have “recently re-appointed” Dr Chris Hughes, who was part of our medical staff for four and a half years, from September 2012 to January 2017, before leaving to join Tottenham Hotspur for the following four and a half years. Last season he spent at Brentford as part of their medical staff.

Incidentally (or perhaps tellingly), during most of that time at Spurs he worked under Mauricio Pochettino. He also worked with José Mourinho at both clubs, too.

Anyway, Hughes’s LinkedIn profile confirms his role as both the “Head of Academy Medical” as well as a first-team doctor, which is similar to his role from last time. (Though last time he was also briefly thrust into the national spotlight as the replacement for Dr Eva Carneiro, after that whole incident with Mourinho — so hopefully we won’t have anything similar to that happen this time, or any time again.)

In any case, welcome back, Doc!