Kevin Wimmer: Mauricio Pochettino's 'very hard' fitness regime has helped me improve at Tottenham

Slimming down: Wimmer's fitness has improved this season
Michael Regan/Getty Images
Sam Long1 February 2016

Tottenham defender Kevin Wimmer has acknowledged Mauricio Pochettino's "very hard" fitness regime has helped him to improve his body shape this season.

The Austrian defender joined Spurs from Cologne in the summer but has not featured regularly during the early stages of his career at White Hart Lane.

Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld are the north Londoners' first-choice centre backs but an injury to the former means Wimmer could have a crucial role to play during the Belgian's absence.

The 23-year-old came into the side for Saturday's comfortable 4-1 victory over Colchester in the fourth round of the FA Cup and Wimmer is adamant he is already feeling the benefits of Tottenham's healthy set up even if he has been starved of competitive game time this term.

"I've improved myself and I am feeling good," he told the Sun. "My body shape is much better than when I came here.

"My body fat has gone down a lot because of the hard training and that I now take care of myself all the time.

"The training sessions in pre-season were very hard and during the season, if you don't play so much, you can train a lot and work more on your fitness.

"I have a good body shape now. At the club you can only eat healthy food, which is a very good thing.

"They also let us take some home, which is good for me because I live by myself and it means I don't have to cook," he insisted.

Player Ratings: Colchester vs Tottenham

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Wimmer has only made one Premier League appearance this season but the defender has rejected claims his position on the fringes of Tottenham's squad has harmed his development.

"A lot of people have said not playing is bad for me.

"But I've just tried to do my best and improve myself, as do extra work.

"In the training sessions there are so many good players you can learn from them."

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