Arsenal’s Director of Performance Darren Burgess has been speaking about the differences at the club in training between Arsene Wenger and Unai Emery.

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Darren Burgess via Fox Soccer

When Arsenal signed Darren Burgess from Port Adelaide in 2017, the Australian knew there was a chance he would not be working with Arsene Wenger during the whole period and he was right. Although Wenger had two years left on his deal when Burgess signed, Wenger was gone after one and Emery arrived.

“It was a really big risk coming here (to Arsenal),” Burgess told Optus Sport. “I signed for three years but Arsene only had two, so I knew there was probably going to be a change of manager. The chance to be here and get back in the Premier League was just too good though.

At the club, Burgess is responsible for “the fitness, nutrition, rehab, physios, doctors, analysts, psychologists for first team and Academy, so Under-8s all the way through to the first team.”

Working so closely with all the players, he is clearly in a position to see the changes in training. So what are the differences between Arsene’s methods and Unai’s?

“They’re both workaholics,” he said. “Arsene would look at more the totality, whereas Unai breaks down a lot of different movements and a lot of different aspects of the game.

“Arsene’s sessions were more possession and game-based, whereas Unai will have that but also break down different aspects, there are a bunch more defined aspects in the training sessions.

“I believe you build resilience into players and that protects them from injury, so we’ve had a much more aggressive training approach since I’ve been here.”

So does Burgess have a player at the club he likes more than the others? ”I tell you who I really like – the two central midfielders, Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka.

“I love the fact that in every single session and drill Torreira takes it personally if someone gets by him. Granit is exactly the same, whether it’s in the gym or on the pitch – every moment counts. I reckon that separates the really good players from the top players.”

Speaking back in 2017 after his appointment, Burgess, in a rare interview, explained what the club had done to land him.