Shaun Maloney has revealed the extent of Celtic's grueling pre-season sessions from their Portugal base.
The Hoops squad are in their training complex and have been doing intense double sessions as they look to gain fitness ahead of the new season.
It has been an exhausting workload for some of the younger players at the club and the heat certainly won't help. But it's the academy prospects, Maloney says, who have perhaps struggled the most so far.
But first-team coach Maloney is adamant it is effort that will stand the players in good stead, as is normal with a severe pre-season.
“It’s been hard but good. For the players, I’d imagine it’s been quite difficult. We’ve done a lot of sessions now," he told Celtic Player.
“We've got sort of different groups of players. We've got some of the more senior first-team players, we've got a lot of the B-team boys and a lot of boys that maybe came back to us from loans and things like that.
"I think some of the younger ones have found it really tough but it's been good. Some of the young players, it's the first time seeing them up close for a prolonged period, so it's been good.
“We've got a fair few of the young lads here. We’ve done a lot of double sessions, even before we came to Ireland. That’s pretty normal with pre-season. Everyone has got to that point in Portugal where they're quite fatigued.
“But it’s harder for the young lads. They’ve only had one pre-season in their career, which was last year when they were 16. So they’ve got that step-up in intensity and the level of play.”
