A Premier League club is trialling a new blood test designed to warn athletes when they are becoming more susceptible to injury, with developers saying it could enable professional sportspeople to continue “well into their 40s”.

Nottingham Forest is partnering with Glasgow-based biotechnology company Entourage on the 12-week study, which will initially involve its 25-player men’s B-Team squad.

The footballers will have blood samples analysed twice a week, allowing researchers to track thousands of proteins and build a picture of how individuals respond to training, matches, injury and recovery.

The findings will be examined alongside the club’s existing training, workload and clinical information to investigate whether particular patterns could indicate increased risk of non-contact soft tissue injuries.

According to Uefa research, hamstring injuries alone accounted for one in five days lost to injury in 2021/22 – double their share two decades earlier.

Separate research across English professional…