In the real sense of the word. It must have started in interviews, when the players owed it all to their team and played it one game at a time. Dull headlines proved a success and coaches must have thought they were on to something, it exploding from there. Now, they must run 100m in this time and have a vertical jump this high. They must score this on the electronic beep test and be able to bench press this amount.
Skills can come later.
Coaches have admitted as much. Maybe not orally, but in their recruitment habits. They are selecting athletes, then making them footballers. Nicks was always a sporting talent. As a kid he was a soccer player, and each night Man United or Liverpool played in his head.