Summer signing Clement Lenglet has hailed the tech and facilities at Spanish champions Barcelona.
Centre-half Lenglet, 23, joined the Catalan outfit from Sevilla for €35 million 18 months after initially arriving in La Liga for €5m from French side Nancy.
He said the facilities and especially tech on offer at Barça is a step up from even Sevilla.
“The facilities are top level – we have a gym that uses the latest technology,” he told France Football.
“Everything we do on machines is stored in computers, calculated and analysed. I had never seen that before in my life!”
Lenglet said the approach to training is also unlike anything he had ever seen before.
“We never work without the ball. We play possession games in extremely small spaces,” he explained.
“The idea is to perceive the situation early and orient the body on the correct side – to think as much as possible about what we are going to do with the ball [before we receive it].
“Everything is designed to move the ball more quickly and fluidly. I have never seen people keeping possession in such small spaces.
“We are pushed to our limits to develop our technique and our reflexes.”
Barcelona’s motto is ‘More than a club’, which runs through everything it does, according to Lenglet.
“I understood this when I arrived: Barça is a club with a huge history, a special identity,” he said.
“The pressure around is very strong. The structure of the club and the number of employees is very impressive. There is not only football, there is also basketball and handball.”
On club captain Lionel Messi, who scored twice and created two others in the spectacular 4-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley on Wednesday, he said: “He is a leader on the field, with his extraordinary qualities.
“But he is also a leader away from it, with his experience and his speeches.
“He does not express himself often – but when he does it everyone listens to him. It’s always relevant and it touches you.”