Even at 34, Milner has the fitness stats to suggest that he will be among those best equipped for the rigours of a brutal new seasonDean Hammond was always unusual in that he loved fitness work. Everyone has their addiction, he says, and his is probably exercise. The former Leicester City, Brighton & Hove Albion and Southampton midfielder has now turned his passion into a business as a specialist coach who helps footballers from all levels, up to Premier League, with conditioning via one-to-one sessions. So how would he prepare for 2020-21 if he were still playing? “I think I’d have taken three weeks off.”Next season “is going to be so intense and relentless”, Hammond explains, that were he still in the Premier League, his priority when 2019-20 ended — only 28 days ago — he would have been taking a family holiday, switching

Source: The Times August 22, 2020 17:03 UTC