Marcelo Bielsa, Manager of Leeds United.  (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)Marcelo Bielsa, Manager of Leeds United.  (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Marcelo Bielsa, Manager of Leeds United. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

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Marcelo Bielsa is renowned for his meticulous fitness regime at Leeds United, and if Patrick Bamford’s comments on the matter are anything to go by, this year’s pre-season is proving to be as strenuous as ever.

Speaking about his preparation for the coming season with the club’s official website, he said: “I think it’s getting tough every year! It has been hard but it’s been good.

“What we did the first year with Marcelo, things have now grown on top of that so rather than just be a standard pre-season, we push ourselves to get better.

“Normally you can come into pre-season and be a little bit off it, and by the end of pre-season you’ll be ready.

“Here you have to do a lot in the off-season to make sure you can start at the base you need to here, which is also important for reducing injuries.

“By the end of it, we’ll all be flying!”

Least season’s top-scorer was asked about how he kept his fitness levels up over the break and the how much he was looking forward to some tough pre-season fixtures.

“I think I had two weeks doing nothing,” Bamford explained.

"After that, I stepped it up week by week with the gym and running. We obviously do murder ball which is a good level of fitness, but it’s not the same as playing 90 minutes in a game.

“I feel like there’s nothing that can really replace that, so it’s important to get a few games under your belt before the season starts.”

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