Mane’s sprinting dedication worried fitness coach Jan
THE race for the top is a marathon, not a sprint – unless you are Sadio Mane.
That’s the view of former Everton, Southampton and Holland fitness coach
Jan Kluitenberg.
The Dutchman spent more than a year at St Mary’s working with Senegal wing wizard Mane and defender Virgil van Dijk before moving to Everton with manager Ronald Koeman.
He has seen first-hand the incredible steps that both have undertaken to be the very best.
Kluitenberg said: “Every day before the game, Sadio came to me 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 don’t do it’.
“He said, ‘Well, if you won’t help me, I will do it by myself!’
“I told Ronald Koeman that Sadio wanted to do some sprint exercises
Richard Buxton
before the game the next day. He told me, ‘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.”
Mane’s relentless drive for perfection is closely matched by Van Dijk, who Kluitenberg also worked alongside at Southampton and 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. He grew as a person, as a leader and the steps he made at Liverpool, working with players on a really high level, gave him more experience.”
Kluitenberg is now head of conditioning at Al Jazira in Abu Dhabi but enjoyed seeing homegrown players develop from his time at Everton, including England star
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 he deserves to be part of the national team.
“You saw from the academy side at the club that they have a lot of qualities there.
“And if you see how they have developed in the last years, it was great.”