The race for the top is a marathon, not a sprint - unless you’re Sadio Mane.
That’s the view of former Everton, Southampton and Holland fitness coach Jan Kluitenberg. The Dutchman spent over a year at St Mary’s working with Senegal wing wizard Mane and Virgil van Dijk before moving to Everton with manager Ronald Koeman. He’s seen first-hand the incredible steps that both Liverpool stars have undertaken to be the very best - backing up Jurgen Klopp's recent declaration that Mane is "blessed" in the physique department with a little bit of 'luck' and a lot of dedication.
Kliutenberg said: “Every day before the game, Sadio came to me the first time and said 'Jan, I want to do six sprints of 60 metres'. I said ‘Sadio, we trained the whole week. You need to be ready for tomorrow, so we don't do it'. ‘He said, 'Well if you won't help me, I will do it by myself!' I explained to Ronald Koeman, 'Sadio wants to do some sprint exercises before the game tomorrow'. He said 'Jan, Sadio knows his body so control him in the things he wants to do'.
“I took some steps, but not 60 metres! But the sprints the day before the game was for him something special to prepare his body. It was great to work with him. A good guy, really good professional and also a good heart."
Mane’s relentless drive for perfection is closely matched by Van Dijk, who Kluitenberg also worked alongside at Southampton and then later for the Dutch national team. He admitted: "We had to push Virgil sometimes. There were moments when Ronald was really critical, but the reason was always to help him make the step up as a defender and his career as a football player. He grew as a person, as a leader and I think the steps he made at Liverpool, working with players on a really high level and also in the Champions League gave him more experience.”
The 59-year-old has also enjoyed seeing the development of homegrown players from his time at Everton, including a fully-fledged England international in Dominic Calvert-Lewin. "He's a great performer,” said the former Toffees coach. “He's a real no.9, strong with duels and with his headers so I think he deserves to be part of the national team.
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"You saw from the academy side that they have a lot of qualities there. If they are ready for the next step and sometimes with young players it takes a little bit more time. But if you see how they developed now in the last years, they did it great."
Kluitenberg will be keeping tabs on today’s Anfield encounter from a distance in Abu Dhabi, where he is now head of conditioning at Al Jazira, but still remembers the brutal nature in which Koeman’s 16-month spell as Everton manager was ended in October 2017.
“We came in and the chairman came in,” he reveals. “For me, that was still not the signal, but Erwin (Koeman) said, 'I think, Jan, there will be a special message coming for us'. But he was only two minutes in his office. That was, for me, a very big disappointment, especially for Ronald because he'd put a lot of energy and effort in the club.”
