It's been a season of plaudits for Leicester City - a side who have completed the most unlikely Premier League title win in history. Such successes don't just happen overnight, though, and while the impact of once derided manager Claudio Ranieri can't be overstated, the foundations for something remarkable were present at the King Power Stadium long before the 64-year-old Italian's arrival.
There has been richly deserved praise for the scouting department headed up by Steve Walsh, a team who identified France as a fertile breeding ground for footballing talent and subsequently acquired N'Golo Kante and PFA Player of the Year Riyad Mahrez for fees considered minimal by Premier League standards.
Elsewhere though, underpinning the club's exceptional rise to stardom has been a sports science department that has benefitted from significant investment in recent years. In a world where every move a player makes is mapped by GPS, each action is catalogued and analysed and clubs have access to a wealth of performance data. Behind the scenes, there is a battle between professional clubs to become more advanced in this area.
While many top flight teams bemoan the bad luck of sustaining key injuries throughout the season, the Foxes go to extraordinary measures to ensure their title-winning squad are on the pitch for as long as possible.
Injury prevention is at the top of that particular agenda. The club have invested £100,000 in a cryotherapy chamber at the Belvoir Drive training ground to aid preparation and recovery through some truly astounding practices. This equipment was first trialled last season as the club battled for Premier League survival under Nigel Pearson and has since become part and parcel of the ritual for many of the club's star names such as leading scorer Jamie Vardy and captain Wes Morgan.
Whole Body Cryotherapy (WBC) involves exposure to temperatures as low as -135 degrees centigrade for a few minutes at a time. These conditions cause vasoconstriction, the narrowing of blood vessels which can reduce excess swelling and inflammation, helpful conditions for dealing with the demands of the Premier League, especially when played at such a breathtaking tempo.
Just a few minutes in such an environment triggers more blood to be held in the body's core as the brain is unable to fully comprehend what is happening and tries to adapt. This process enriches the blood held centrally with nutrients and oxygen so that when the body returns to normal it further aids the repair of exhausted or damaged tissue.
“The cryotherapy chamber is absolutely freezing but it helps you in your recovery, so fair play to the club for getting it,” Vardy revealed in November following the 3-0 win over Newcastle, a game which he had been doubtful for due to a hip injury.
“I was very close to not playing but the physios have been brilliant. I don’t think even some of the brainiest men in the world would understand the name of stuff they’ve been doing but they’ve been working constantly on me all week.”
The less time players spend recovering, the more opportunities there are to be on the training ground with coaching staff honing their skills. This has seen the somewhat unfashionable squad defy expectations in the most emphatic way possible. The statistics certainly suggest that Leicester have reaped plenty of rewards from such a forward thinking approach.
They have the most consistent starting line-up of any Premier League champions since Manchester United in 1999, according to Opta. Ranieri has been able to name the same XI 17 times and has used just 23 players in total, fewer than any club in the Premier League this season. Quite a turnaround for a manager dubbed "The Tinkerman" during his time at Chelsea due to his excessive rotation.
Luck undoubtedly plays a significant part in the number of players unavailable through injury at any given point. But while this season's Leicester team has not had the extra rigours of European football, nor an extended run in either of the two domestic cup competitions, their advanced sports science department has played a huge role in maintaining such a healthy squad. With a full-strength side to count on week after week, the seemingly impossible dream became a reality.
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