‘You can’t replicate this’ – out-of-contract players welcome new PFA camp

Pre-season has rarely been popular among footballers, who associate it with punishing drills designed to prepare them for the long campaign ahead.

For those players who begin the summer without a club, though, it can be a period of uncertainty and even isolation. It is precisely this gap that the Professional Footballers’ Association is now seeking to bridge with a 10-week training camp at Champneys Springs resort in Leicestershire, specially designed for out-of-contract players who were on the books of a Premier League, EFL or Women’s Super League club last season.

“You can’t replicate this anywhere else,” one of the players in attendance, Omar Bogle, said.

“When you’re at home running on the treadmill or in the gym it’s all well and good, but you can’t replicate being in a football environment.”

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Every spot in the first week of the programme was taken, with a mixture of ages, profiles and back stories.

The initiative began life as a proposal from the PFA’s players’ board to meet the needs of out-of-contract footballers. The Transfermarkt website estimates there will be 1,286 players out of contract this summer in Leagues One and Two alone.

The scheme ran in pilot form last summer but is now in full operation. In addition to coaching and fitness facilities, players also have access to mental health and well-being sessions, education seminars and presentations from guest speakers. Scouts on the lookout for new talent also observe the sessions.

Crucially, players also have access to something else – the social environment footballers thrive off.

“It feels like a team already,” Offrande Zanzala, a  27-year-old forward who, like Bogle, was most recently at Newport in League Two.

“Everything is like being in a team without having the badge really. It’s been a good exposure.

“There’s nothing to lose, we might as well make the most of being here as many days and weeks as you can. What else would you be doing?

“You’re going to be doing 5k and 1k (runs) by yourself when you can come here and get loads of football, getting touches in, sharpness and fitness.

“Competitiveness is important as well, because you can go to a team and if you have not had that competitiveness, you’re going to be in for a shock.

“It’s an opportunity to showcase your talent and put yourself in the shop window. A move can come out from just being here.”

Milan Lalkovic, who came through the Chelsea academy and has played at four EFL sides, is contracted to a club in Greece but believes he is now ready to return to England, and has an agreement with his current team that if an English club comes in for him, he can leave.

“Nothing replicates being in a competitive environment,” the 31-year-old former Walsall player said.

“They really take care of us here and I don’t think any other country does this.”

Saleem Akanbi says the camp has restored his joy and passion for the game. Akanbi, now 20, had been with Cambridge since the age of seven but suffered an ACL injury towards the end of his first year as a professional, and after spending time on loan at Aveley in National League South is now a free agent.

He has also pursued interests outside of football, working as a co-commentator on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire and setting up an events company, but is determined to make the most of the opportunities the camp is providing.

“It’s a progressive programme so it won’t be the same this week as it’s going to be in week four or week five,” he said.

“So however long you’re here, you’re always going to get what you need at the time you need it. They have structured it really well.

“For me as a young player it’s been excellent. I can’t really underestimate the value from the social times – the lunches, the breakfasts – where you can talk to these older senior lads who have played countless games and just pick their brains.

“It’s been such a long time where I’ve not been enjoying anything, I’ve dreaded waking up and going to training. But I wake up (here) and I am so excited to train, kick a ball around and be with your mates. To get that joy and passion back has been the main thing.”

PFA chief executive Maheta Molango says the camp, which is fully funded by the union and offered free to the players involved, is designed to give out-of-contract players the best possible chance to be ready for the next opportunity.

“I was one of those players who, for good or for bad, changed teams a lot and it’s tough when you don’t have a club or you have something on the table that is not quite what you want,” he said.

“Everyone goes back to pre-season and for the first couple of weeks you can train on your own, but then it’s tough.

“It’s tough mentally, it’s tough physically, it’s tough to recreate the intensity of a training session. The problem is, whenever the opportunity comes, you’re not ready. Not ready mentally, emotionally, physically.

“Here you have got a chance to come in, (use) good facilities with other people going through the same type of situation and hopefully they won’t stay very long.

“Our wish is that no one stays for the full 10 weeks. We want to give them the opportunity to be ready for when the opportunity arises.”