Inside the Swans camp as Sheehan kicks off his pre-season preparations

SWANSEA City’s players have returned to preseason this week to be put through their paces ahead of the new campaign, and there's already been plenty to take in from it all.

- TOM COLEMAN

As is customary at this time of year, fitness is the main order of the day for the squad, who are under the guidance of a new look coaching team this summer, with Darren O'Dea joining up with Alan Sheehan's backroom staff following his move from Celtic.

There have been some older faces too, with legends Alan Curtis and Leon Britton both dropping in on the squad this week to see how things are going as the Swans click their preparations for the new season into gear.

The players have already been seen going the SDS running test, a fitness routine that was originally introduced by UEFA for elite referees.

It’s designed to replicate the sort of high-intensity runs seen during a real match, with participants making a single run of 60m, before then doing two runs of 30m each and then finishing with another single 60m run. Hence the name, Single-Double-Single (SDS).

The sort of heat seen this week clearly makes tests like this one far more of a challenge, with the likes of Josh Key, Josh Tymon and Zan Vipotnik all feeling the burn.

As too were some of the new boys.

Ricardo Santos, for example, couldn't help but give out a exhausted puff of the cheeks by the end of it, while fellow new boys Bobby Wales, Melker Widell and Zeidane Inoussa could similarly be seen sweating it out before taking on some hydration in the Fairwood sunshine.

Youngster Filip Lissah was could also be spotted in the background.

The 20-year-old defender remains highly rated by insiders, but hasn’t yet managed to make his mark on the first team setup.

Cameron Burgess, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen, although his absence isn’t any cause for concern.