Today, July 13, marks the first day of Leeds United’s pre-season with the majority of the squad checking in at Leeds Beckett University for testing this morning.
Those who competed at the World Cup - namely Gabriel Gudmundsson, Ao Tanaka, Brenden Aaronson and Noah Okafor - will join up at a later date amid the possibility that some could miss the entire tour of the US.
But all other players are back in for testing at the Leeds Beckett’s Health and Performance Hub, where initial body scans and body composition measurements that can’t be undertaken at Thorp Arch are being carried out.
On Tuesday, the squad will return to the club’s training ground to complete physical testing such as the bleep test and other endurance and agility exercises. Training will resume from Wednesday onwards.
Such early testing measures where each player is in their fitness at the present moment and can aid in learning about how much load they can handle initially and how much recovery time they need, allowing for individualised programmes to be curated.
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Players who have reported back for pre-season, including new signing Harry Wilson, will fly out to the USA on Tuesday, July 21 ahead of the first friendly against Wrexham at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on July 25.
Leeds then travel to their base camp in New Jersey ahead of their meeting with Sunderland Sports Illustrated Stadium on July 30 UK time. The Whites round off their tour in Chicago against Liverpool on August 2.
United then host RB Leipzig in the first of two Elland Road friendlies on August 8, with the second and final game of the summer coming against FC Augsburg a week later.
Sandwiched in midweek is the Wednesday, August 12 trip to Dublin to take on Manchester United at Croke Park. Leeds begin their Premier League season away at Nottingham Forest on August 22 at 3pm.
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