Declan Rice had just finished competing at Euro 2024 when Mikel Arteta confidently declared the Arsenal midfielder would be ready for the start of the new season.
Rice played the joint-most minutes of anyone at the Euros and covered more ground than any other player, but Arteta was sure he would be ready to line up for Arsenal in their Premier League opener against Wolves on Saturday.
The way Rice has worked during the off-season, it is easy to see why Arteta was so confident.
Rice, like many other players, spent part of his summer break training out in Dubai to ensure he would hit the ground running when he returned to Arsenal.
He worked with performance coach and injury rehab specialist Chris Bowman, who founded Elite Sports Performance in 2018.
Bowman had previously worked as a physiotherapist at a number of clubs, including Leeds, and had discovered there was a gap in the market to work with players when they were away from their clubs.
In the past six years, 450 athletes have trained with him - including Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowksi, former Ireland fly-half Jonny Sexton and boxer Badou Jack.
“Dubai was the No1 destination players seemed to want to go and there wasn’t really anybody with that football experience that they could work with,” Bowman tells Standard Sport.
“Football now, compared to 12 years ago when I first started working in it, is like chalk and cheese when it comes to the off-season.
“You’d have the guys back then and they would literally take four weeks off, then they’d just go hell for leather for two weeks and get their fitness back.
“Then they’d go back into their clubs, run again for another two weeks, and then the games would start. That was kind of how it was.”
Bowman’s sessions take place early in the morning, to avoid the midday heat, and then players can use Elite Sports Performance’s bespoke facility after for an ice bath, gym work or massage.
Five staff members are also on site, ranging from physiotherapists to strength and conditioning coaches.
Ideally, players work in groups. Rice, for example, was out at the same time as England defender Lewis Dunk and Lionesses midfielder Keira Walsh.
“You get more out of them when we are working in these small groups, definitely,” says Bowman.
“They are all winners at heart, they are all competitors and none of them want to be last on the runs. You get the extra intensity out of the session by having others in there.
“There’s not a fixture on the Saturday they need to worry about being sore for after doing some gym work, so we can get the strength work in and it’s probably the only time during that period they can make strength gains. Once the season starts, it’s very much about playing and recovering.”
At the heart of Bowman’s approach is transparency with clubs, which was an area he noticed needed addressing.
Players pretty much have their own personal teams, Cristiano Ronaldo was kind of the pioneer of that
His experiences when working at clubs was that they could send players away and hear little back from the centres they went to train at. On occasions, players would return and data actually showed they had regressed when it came to physical performance.
Bowman has changed that by having an open relationship with clubs and national associations.
Before Rice headed out to Dubai, Bowman spoke with England’s head of physical performance, medicine and nutrition Steve Kemp to ensure he knew what shape the midfielder was in.
Players also complete a questionnaire, explaining how they fared last season with injuries and what their current fitness is.
At a time when the football calendar is more congested than ever, a tailored approach is vital.
“If it’s the start of the off-season and the player is good to go, they’ll be a little bit more of a focus on injury prevention and gym-based work because ultimately that is the time to build those foundations,” says Bowman.
“As we come into the latter end of June and players are going to be heading back to their clubs, then there is a lot more focus on building their aerobic base alongside doing some strength work.
“I see the main shift in the industry being very much like it is in the NBA, where players pretty much have their own personal teams. Cristiano Ronaldo was kind of the pioneer of that and I think that is coming in a bit more now.”
