Swans report back for pre-season

4th July

The Swans squad reported back for the first day of pre-season testing today as preparations got underway for the 2016-17 campaign.
The majority of the squad - minus Euro 2016 contingent Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor, Lukasz Fabianski and Gylfi Sigurdsson along with Jefferson Montero, Ki Sung-Yueng and Andre Ayew, who have been given extra time off after representing their countries - underwent various tests at the club's Landore training ground.
Nathan Dyer was back in SA1 after a loan spell which saw him pick up a Premier League winners medal with Leicester City while Matt Grimes, Gerhard Tremmel and Franck Tabanou were also among the players being put through their paces following temporary stints at Blackburn, Werder Bremen and St Etienne last season.
The squad head out to America on Thursday for a training camp in Washington DC followed by friendly matches with Charlotte Independence and Richmond Kickers as preparations go up a level.
And performance director Richard Buchanan underlined the impact the pre-season programme has on the campaign ahead.
"It's an important day for the boys," he said. "They have a lot of testing done and the idea behind that is for us to get a baseline score of where they are at when they return.
"Moving forward, we can direct conditioning and injury prevention programmes and individualise it as much as possible on the scores we receive today coupled with the information we have from last season.
"A lot of the players come back earlier to work on things, while they have programmes given to them for the off season to ensure they come back in really good shape. The days of coming back and starting from scratch are long gone!
"We push them hard in pre-season to get them to the required level to compete in the Premier League, and that continues throughout the season.
"It's not a one fit process for the players - it is more individualised to what each players need as an athlete and the demands of their particular position."


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