Earlier this summer, much was made of Tottenham Hotspur’s tough preseason approach, with some players vomiting after taking part in gruelling exercises.
Antonio Conte wants his Spurs squad to be among the fittest in the Premier League and to achieve that goal he hired Gian Piero Ventrone, who has a reputation for pushing stars hard.
Ventrone has previously worked at Juventus and has now responded to a perceived dig at the club, and Italian football in general, from Julian Nagelsmann. After Matthijs de Ligt arrived at Bayern Munich, the club’s manager said the defender had explained he’d never trained so hard, that things weren’t so difficult in Italy.
The Italian media contacted the Tottenham fitness coach for his take on the situation, and it’s fair to say he doesn’t seem impressed with Nagelsmann’s comments.
“It is a sport that we must respect, then the important thing is that it works. Today there are many ideas, many copy and paste, then we can do what we want, even take them on a kayak. But, if they resist more than the others on the pitch, they go faster than the others and they don’t have many injuries, it’s fine to me to send them kayaking, but we have to prove it works. Juve is an evolved club, these words seem strange to me.”
Conte will be hoping that Ventrone’s methods, which worked so well for Marcello Lippi, help Tottenham achieve great things next season. And don’t be surprised if Harry Kane and co. are seen kayaking in the coming weeks.
