Under MilanLab supervision, several stars have all managed to play in Serie A past the age of 35. Meersseman plays down the impact MilanLab has had on these individuals extending their top-flight careers, though the players themselves have heralded the work of the Varese-based laboratory. "I'd never dream of saying it was MilanLab that kept a player performing at the top level," he says. "I could never say it was us that were the reason Paolo Maldini played until he was 41. Paolo is simply an exceptional individual. But when he was about 32 or 33, he would admit himself that his career was going slightly downhill. Paolo is extremely complementary about the work we did with him, and I hope we were a helping factor in kick-starting his career again in his early thirties."

Meersseman is delighted at Beckham's return to Milan this January and believes the England midfielder could replicate Maldini's achievements of playing top-flight football into his forties despite his latest injury. "David arrived at the club in rather poor physical condition but our evaluation was, that with the right work, Beckham could carry on playing football into his late thirties, even beyond. David gave us a lot of credit for what we achieved with him in a short space of time and I now think he is in a brilliant physical condition. We kept in touch on a weekly basis while he was back with LA Galaxy over the phone, so it will be great to see him regularly in person these next few months."

MilanLab remains the medical blueprint that every other football club worldwide wants to replicate. Chelsea are already halfway there under Demichelis. The club hopes - given their ageing squad and possible future transfer embargo - he has brought Milan's secret to eternal youth with him. "Keeping their current squad of players fit is more important than ever," says Meersseman.

"There are resemblances between Chelsea now and the Milan squad when MilanLab was set up in 2002. A lot of key squad members are in or moving towards their thirties. Bruno will install a mentality in the players' minds that they can achieve anything. Demichelis is a remarkable person and that's why Carlo wanted to take him to Chelsea so badly."

In a rare interview last summer, Demichelis revealed how he was hoping to save Chelsea millions in the transfer market by honing the physical and mental prowess of the current squad. As a trained sports psychologist, he's focused on improving the power of thought amongst Ancelotti's players. "We need only to implement something in the mental area, to look at stress and to assess the nervous system to see if players have recovered from fatigue," he said. "We strongly believe that this club can really achieve. It was so close in the last five years so we want to turn this frustration into positive energy and a fury."

Meersseman believes MilanLab's success rests with the holistic approach the team's medics take to treating players. He is expecting Demichelis to build a bigger medical team over the next few years, similar to the way in which MilanLab grew rapidly following its establishment in 2002. Contrary to the 'too many chefs' philosophy, Milan's belief is that the more medical opinions you have access to, the better. It's a working collaboration, and other clubs are now picking up on the benefits of not relying solely on a physiotherapist.

"Through analysing data, we've had an enormous reduction of non-traumatic injuries," says Meersseman. "We are also moving away from the use of prescription medicine. I'm not against the use of pharmaceuticals, but I am against the over-use of anti-inflammatories, pain killers and muscle relaxants in the run-up and during a game. That does not benefit players. Although there is no strict evidence that these drugs reduce the time a player is able to perform at the top level, I would suggest that to be the case."

Milan's players certainly seem to feel that they're in some of the most capable medical hands in football. Gennaro Gattuso says the MilanLab is so good that players from other teams come to have treatment there, while Zeljko Kalac - a former Milan goalkeeper - says the players are "totally spoilt". David Beckham has even gone on record as saying that MilanLab is one of the main reasons he's "never wanted to stay and work for so many hours after training."

"There are a lot of clubs who look at over-30-year-old players and think 'maybe we shouldn't buy them'," he says. "But at Milan it's different, and it works. I'd love to be able to play until I'm 40. Football's my life - to be able to do it for as many years as that would be a dream."

With Chelsea's plans to develop their own lab in Surrey moving ahead at pace, one wonders how long it will be before other clubs aim to replicate this most remarkable of sports science success stories.