- Mike Stowell comments on the importance of pre-season to Leicester City
- The squad returned to Belvoir Drive on Monday ahead of the 2018/19 campaign
- Stowell is looking forward to working with the group next week in Évian-les-Bains
- Pre-season trips away are a key part of a successful pre-season, says Stowell
Claude Puel’s men reported back to Belvoir Drive on Monday morning for testing and training - an exercise that Stowell says will lay the foundations for success over the 2018/19 campaign.
“It’s great to be back, I think this is a really key period in the season,” he told LCFC TV. “It’s a great period for all the lads to get back together and tell all their stories from over the summer.
“It feels like ages since we’ve been back here but it’s a really good time to work, get the sessions in and this is where the conditioning starts for the new season.
“The lads do train during the summer […] you come back here and you’ve got to be the same weight as when you left – and we’ve come straight out onto the pitches.”
With City set to depart for a six-day training camp in Évian-les-Bains, Stowell also provided an insight into the kind of benefits the players will draw from their stay in south-east France.
“The biggest thing for us is the camps,” he added. “When you go away on the camps, you take any distraction away, so you take the [families] out of the equation and you put them into a training camp.
“You train three times a day because there’s nothing else to do and it’s fantastic for team bonding. This is where all the hard work for the season starts, this is where it’s all formed and gelled.
“So all your formations, set-plays, all your fitness levels, it’s all done in pre-season. It’s a massive time.”
Throughout their stay in France, you can follow updates from the camp right here on LCFC.com.