Arsenal have hired Michael Johnson to help increase the speed and strength of the young players at the club.

In a move that is hoped will prepare the players for first team action, the Gunners have turned to the four-time Olympic gold medallist to work with them from a young age.

“It’s about developing athletes,” Johnson said. “How do you bring an athlete from seven or eight years old all the way through to their full development as a 17 or 18 year-old.”

It’s just one of a number of changes the club have been making behind the scenes in order to ensure that the players are in top condition, an area of concern for a number of years for Arsenal with the high number of injury problems.

The club hired Shad Forsythe last summer as fitness coach and the American, who spent time working with the German national side, is already starting to show his magic as Arsene Wenger gets presented with an (almost) full complement of players to pick from for perhaps the first time since the move to the Emirates.