Kyle Walker is one of the fastest players in Premier League history - but even he couldn't keep up with Mauricio Pochettino's brutal running test at Tottenham Hotspur.
Full-back Walker played under the Argentinian manager between 2014 and 2017, a period in which Tottenham reached the League Cup final in 2015 and finished second in the Premier League the following year.
The former England defender joined Manchester City for £45 million in summer 2017, but found Pep Guardiola's approach to training very different to that of Pochettino.
'I joined Manchester City and thought: I've made a mistake here' Why Kyle Walker questioned decision to leave Tottenham
Walker joined Spurs in 2009 and witnessed several players break through during his eight years in North London, most notably Harry Kane and Dele Alli.
The latter signed from MK Dons in 2015 and made his Premier League debut aged just 19, before going on to enjoy an outstanding maiden campaign in the top flight.
Alli also impressed behind the scenes, with Walker revealing that the youngster was the only player capable of standing up to Pochettino's notorious training drills.
He told The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet: “We had the famous thing called the Gacon [running test] – whoever played for Tottenham will know the Gacon.
“It starts at 145m and you have 45-seconds to get there, you then walk up 5m [to another cone] and have to run back. It’s a continuous thing and there were 16 or 17 cones.
“The only person that I’ve ever seen complete it was Dele Alli – he was an animal at running.”
Despite Pochettino's rigorous training methods, Walker failed to win a trophy at Spurs - but he enjoyed a glittering eight seasons at City, lifting 13 major honours including the Treble in 2022/23.
But the 96-cap former England star, who retired from international football last week, revealed the differences between Spurs and City made him question his decision.
Walker said: “I remember getting off in the pre-season [at Manchester City] and you’ve got Kun [Sergio] Aguero who’s just balling around training – bad trainer, bad trainer but he turned it on in the game.
“I got back to my hotel room after and speaking to my dad saying, ‘I think I’ve made a mistake here.’ I went from a Pochettino team of running hard and we’re going to run all over you, dominating that area and also with a little bit of quality from certain players we’re going to win the game, to looking now and thinking we’re doing hardly any running in pre-season because Pep doesn’t like running – we did a little bit but it was mainly with the ball.”
