Colchester United sport scientist Stef Russo expects the club’s players to be fighting fit when the new League Two season kicks off next month.

The U’s first-team squad begin their first full week of pre-season training today, having reported back for duty last week.

Colchester boasted a plethora of youngsters in their side last season, with John McGreal’s team one of the youngest in the fourth tier.

And with academy graduates such as Tom Lapslie, Sammie Szmodics and Frankie Kent set to play their part again, Russo believes their youthful exuberance will be important in the lead-up to the big League Two kick-off on August 5.

Russo said: “The fitter you come in as a squad, the more you can push on with what the manager wants to do.

“It’s a young squad and the good thing is that they’re naturally fit, as well.

“We will ease the whole group into pre-season and the injury rates were good last pre-season.”

Colchester have welcomed back a host of players from injury, with the likes of Kurtis Guthrie, Luke Prosser and Craig Slater all making welcome returns.

Of the players who were sidelined with long-term ailments last season, only Brennan Dickenson is certain to miss the start of the new campaign.

“We will monitor them accordingly and be sensible with it,” said Russo, who previously worked at Southend United.

“A good example is Sam Walker, last season - he was coming back from a long-term knee injury and sometimes it would be a case of missing a session here or there to make sure he was completely ready.

“We want them ready for the new season and ultimately, that is what it’s all about.

“It was frustrating for us to be missing so many players last season but credit to the boys who came in, because they did very well. The fit boys have had individual programmes to work from and have touched base with each other a couple of times.

“This summer has been really busy. Last year, it was very different – a lot of players like George Moncur and Alex Gilbey had left.

“This summer, we’ve not only had the injured boys coming in regularly to work hard but also quite a few of the fit boys have come in to do the odd session, here and there which has been nice to see.

“At other clubs, it’s not unusual to go the whole summer without seeing some players and it’s really given the injured players a boost, to see them around.”