Gym Training For Boys: A Coach’s Approach

• Franklin Stoker

  football editor

Can PSV do without Ivan Perisic? The Croat, who turns 37 on Monday, is an example in everything for the selection of trainer Peter Bosz, who is very happy with the veteran. “He literally takes teammates into the gym.”

They are fit athletes who have all won almost everything in their careers, but still perform at a top level. Examples for young and old.

Perisic also took the lead again in the Champions League confrontation with Bayern Munich (1-2) on Wednesday. The biggest PSV chances came before halftime from the Croatian, who only found the excellent Bayern goalkeeper Jonas Urbig in his path.

“Ivan has commanded a lot of respect within the selection based on his past, but he also interprets this in his own way,” said Bosz.

Perisic occasionally expresses this interpretation via social media. In it, the 150-time international shows how he maintains his fitness with the help of a personal trainer. But also with cupping therapy, the use of compression sleeves and a session on oxygen.

Perisic is given the space by PSV to follow his own health gospel. For example, he was allowed to go to Belgrade at the end of November to recover from a hamstring injury with his own confidants.

On Friday afternoon at the Herdgang we also see a glimpse of Perisic’s drive for action. Just before the start of a press conference by Bosz, the attacker comes out of an office where he has just had a session with an oxygen mask, as a recovery after the morning training.

“I think every top athlete has something selfish, Ivan has that too. That’s good, because if you look at his fitness, what he does for it…” says Bosz.

According to the trainer, the natural dominance of Perisic, who reached the final (2018) and semi-final (2022) of the World Cup with Croatia, is contagious. “Of course, other boys see that too. He takes them with him and provides them with advice. How can you recover fastest and what do you have to do for it? That’s nice to see.”

The figures prove that Perisic is still reaching a high level: he scored 21 goals and 21 assists in 63 games for PSV. The attacker is also still a regular for Croatia, with whom he hopes to play his fourth World Cup next summer.

Perisic has become the oldest player in the Premier League this century to score at least ten goals and/or assists in one season. He thus keeps Burak Yilmaz, Dirk Kuijt, Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Phillip Cocu behind him.

Perisic is also the oldest player in the Premier League with at least fifteen starting places in one season since PSV player Jan Heintze in 2001/2002. The Danish left back also had his methods of staying fit. At the time, Heintze swore by eating ground shark bones.

The good performances have ensured that Perisic has started flirting with an old love. Internazionale would really like to bring the Croatian back this winter transfer period. Perisic played for the Italian top club between 2015 and 2022, with a short stint at Bayern Munich.

According to Italian media, Perisic would also be interested in a reunion with Inter, but PSV absolutely does not want to lose its leader. “I know he’s not going, he’s just staying,” Bosz responded to Internazionale’s interest two weeks ago.

Perisic would reportedly only be allowed to leave Eindhoven if Inter came with a huge bag of money. That scenario does not yet seem plausible. Staying fit is what counts above all at Perisic.