The sweat drips off Lewis Holtby as his training session in Dubai comes to an end. One glance at his watch tells him that he’s burned 1,000 calories and travelled 4.3km during an intense workout in the early-morning sun.
“Not bad,” he grins, as he shakes off the loose grass from his boots and begins a debrief with The Athletic during our exclusive access with the ex-Tottenham Hotspur man who now lives in Hamburg, Germany, and plays for Bundesliga.2 side Holstein Kiel.
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Holtby is here in the UAE keeping fit alongside hundreds of other professional footballers during the winter break.
The World Cup in neighbouring Qatar is firmly on his mind. Holtby, who won three caps for Germany, is still reeling after his nation’s early exit. “We weren’t good enough in either box. Despite having class players, the defence didn’t feel like a typical German team and up front so many chances were missed. But wow, what a player Jamal Musiala is going to be. His movement in between the lines and his decision-making…wow,” he says.
The England vs France quarter-final also excites him. “A huge game. I might go,” he adds.
It’s the action from the night before that is still taking up plenty of head space, though. Croatia squeezed past Japan after a ruthless showing in the penalty shoot-out and Luka Modric, who played 99 minutes at the ripe age of 37 after appearing in all but four minutes of Croatia’s three group games, again caught the eye.
Modric remains an inspiration for Holtby.
Modric is Holtby’s favourite player (Photo: Francois Nel/Getty Images)“He’s my role model. I try to get as much as I can from this player because he plays in the same position as me; he’s a small midfielder, like me, with a low-body action, so I study everything I can about him.
“Still, at 37, he remains an elite player. He doesn’t look tired and that’s because he’s a workhorse, an animal, a top, top professional. Watching him makes me believe that I can play on and on.”
That is Holtby’s plan. He turns 33 next year but is targeting at least another three seasons after this campaign.
At the lush practice facility at Sports City where a cricket field, golf course, indoor area, multi-purpose gym and 25,000-seater stadium accompany the football fields, the sun-kissed midfielder starts an hour-long workout with a series of stretches.
“Preparation and investment in your body is everything,” he says as coach Sean O’Shea arrives with his team of staff.
Holtby (centre, in vest) with O’Shea (third from right) and his training teamO’Shea met Holtby eight years ago when he was the head of football at the Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Sports Complex, one of the most comprehensive facilities in the world and the venue where Liverpool are currently training.
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His story is a unique and interesting one. The UEFA Pro Licence coach left a role at Huddersfield Town’s academy to return to Dubai for a second stint in 2013. Only this time it was at the request of the Crown Prince, Sheikh Hamdan, who owns the NAS. He had spent some time scuba diving with O’Shea’s brother and discovered that he would be the ideal man to run the football operation.
A stroke of luck? “Like anything in life, it’s who you know,” O’Shea says laughing.
When Manchester United visited early into his time, the French left-back Patrice Evra loved the set-up so much that he arranged individual sessions with O’Shea for the next five years and from there his client list grew; from Luke Shaw to Virgil van Dijk, and plenty more. Holtby is one of many who remain in touch.
O’Shea’s other job in Dubai is working as the director of football for Cognita Middle East — a large group of schools that offer a football programme to students.
Some of his staff have come along to make Holtby’s session more interesting. There are hugs and high-fives as the balls come out. Holtby sprints from side to side and is itching to go. He grabs the final cones to help arrange the warm-up and we’re underway.
Two coaches fire passes into his feet and Holtby has to return the ball through two tightly-positioned mannequins.
“Great feet,” O’Shea shouts, before the ball thunders off the blocker in the middle. “Curse of the commentator,” O’Shea laughs.
Holtby is smiling, too. This is his fifth session on the grass during a two-week break here but in between he has been running 10km each day and following a gym plan set out by his club.
“I need the ball at my feet every few days to keep my feel. I love it. I love being out here,” he says.
Next it’s three-vs-three football tennis, with three touches only allowed on each side. It’s light-hearted and a bit of fun.
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As the coaches break off to set up the next move, Holtby again sets off on another round of sprints. He’s active now and feeling pumped-up.
“Have it!” Holtby shouts when converting into a small-sided goal.
“What’s next?” he asks, desperate for more as O’Shea decides on five minutes of free play; where the six coaches stand 10 yards apart, splitting the pitch, with Holtby in the middle receiving passes from all angles.
Holtby talks to Gregg Evans during the sessionShooting practice then wraps up the session. First Holtby has to make a lung-bursting run into the box and then finish first-time from two different passes, before a round of five penalties — he scores four — and then a debrief on the short, sharp session.
Was it everything he needed as part of his preparation to return fit and firing on January 27 when German football gets back underway?
“Perfect,” he says. “These drills have been perfect, and what a setting to train in. Better than English or German weather right now…”
Clearly his passion for the game is not wavering despite now being in his thirties. I remind him that he’s the third-oldest player at Holstein Kiel but his reaction is telling.
“It’s weird because I don’t think I’m old. Yes, I turn 33 next year but I don’t feel that way.”
Still fresh-faced, lean, and enjoying the time away from normal training with his family, who return to Dubai alongside him every year, he adds: “I look after myself. I invest a lot in cryotherapy, doctors, and physiotherapy because I want to play as long as I can.
“I see from my numbers that I’m still one of the fittest in the team.
“When we do the oxygen test — where the speed of running is increased and then a blood sample is taken to see where the fatigue kicks in — I’m always in the top three which shows me and tells me that I have still got a lot of energy.
“The effort that I put in will be worth it if I can continue to 36 or 37.
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Holtby also has an intriguing backstory; born to an English father and a German mother, he grew up in Erkelenz, a town near the former Rheindahlen RAF base in Monchengladbach where his dad, Chris, who completed two tours of the Falklands, was based. He still has family in England and explained why the experience at Tottenham Hotspur between 2013-15, where he made 25 Premier League appearances, brings back mixed emotions.
“Tottenham are a massive club. I felt the energy there and I think the fans felt my energy.
“I wished I was a different age or had a different mindset at that time because I was maybe too naive and inexperienced in that period.
“I should have been more patient. I had top-class midfielders around me so game time was always spread but I had the wrong thinking… I always thought I should play or start every game.
“Sometimes it’s about patience, learning from others, getting game-time and then learning.
“The player with the best mindset right now is Jude Bellingham. He’s 19 but he thinks like a 32-year-old. He’s got it all.”
Returning for another crack in England was imperative as Holtby felt he had unfinished business. A two-season spell at Blackburn Rovers wasn’t what he hoped, though, due to the pandemic.
“The first few months were great, then came COVID,” he recalls.
An away defeat to Barnsley summed up that period.
“We all had to make our own way there, so there I was driving to the ground from Manchester, nobody in the road, and only sheep around me. We lost 1-0, it was pouring with rain and on the way back a road-block stopped me getting home so I had to drive back to the stadium and start again!”
There was, perhaps, one sliding-doors moments in his career that made a big difference. On deadline day in August 2014, he had a decision between leaving Spurs for Aston Villa in the Premier League or moving to Hamburg. He chose the latter and believes it was crucial.
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“I had the feeling that I wanted to go back home. I was young and I had the option of joining a great big club in Germany or another big club in England.
“If I didn’t go to Hamburg I wouldn’t have met my wife, and therefore we wouldn’t have had our baby and the lovely time together since.
“I don’t have regrets in life because the right path is always the one you choose.”
(Top photo: Marcus Brandt/picture alliance via Getty Images)
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