A summer of hard work for Coburn

A HUGE and potentially career-defining summer awaits Josh Coburn at Middlesbrough - and the proud Teesside academy graduate has been going the extra mile over the course of the summer to give himself the best possible chance to catch the new head coach's eye.

- By CRAIG JOHNS [e-mail] @craigjohns_

Coburn spent last season on loan at Millwall and remains a possibility to be sold this summer as the Lions eye a permanent deal.

But with Boro in need of extra back-up at the top end of the pitch, and with a new head coach set to arrive, there might yet be time for the Richmond-born centre forward to force his way back into the thinking on Teesside.

To give himself the best opportunity of returning to Rockliffe at the end of the month in the best possible condition, Coburn has been working hard at a Wearside training facility with Martin Nugent, a performance strength and conditioning coach with around 20-years experience. Currently doing a PhD in horizontal deceleration with a focus on ACL injuries in women’s football, he runs Martin Nugent Elite Performance.

His coaches all have masters too. Along with Coburn, Nugent has worked with a multitude of athletes from Olympic medallists to championship boxers, with plenty of professional footballers passing through his doors, too.

He's been working with the Boro prospect since he was around 14 and, at that time, still part of Sunderland’s academy. The partnership has continued, with the attacker trusting Martin and his team to help him be as close to his physical best as often as possible.

Martin explains: “We're a performance-based training centre underpinned by science.

“We're a very unique facility and coaching team. People like Josh are a fine example of that and how we can help a player develop from an academy player to a full-time professional.

“It’s not uncommon now for many footballers to do extra work on top of training within the football club itself because, ultimately, they can get that individual programme to suit their own needs from us, whereas at a club it’s very much focused on the football and the team as a collective.