Liverpool poised to move into new £50m Kirkby training centre

LIVERPOOL will move into their new £50m training centre in Kirkby in mid to late November, the club have announced.

The centre, which spans 9,200 square metres, has three full-size pitches, goalkeeping and warm-up areas, and indoor facilities including two gyms, a full-size sports hall, pool, hydrotherapy complex and specialist sports rehabilitation suites.

For the first time, the first team and Academy will be on the same site. Liverpool's first team has been based at Melwood for the last 70 years.

Liverpool had initially intended to move to Kirkby in June, but this had to be postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The state-of-the-art facility will officially be known as the AXA Training Centre, marking the first time that the club have had a 'training complex naming partner.'

The move was first announced in 2017, when manager Jurgen Klopp said: “I really love Melwood but football changes. We cannot avoid this. We can't stay like we always were and hope we can cope with the other clubs.

“Sometimes you have to set standards. It's really good that our owners give us the opportunity to make this big step in the future. Twenty five years ago Melwood set the level. In those 25 years a lot of things happened.

“It's fantastic but we have no space for anything. If we want to have one more office, we don't know where to go. That's the situation. Bringing the Academy and the first team together is one point but it's also about improving a lot of things that we can't improve here.

“It will only be good for the future of the club. I really believe that infrastructure keeps responsibility up.”

The centre was designed by architects KSS and built by McLaughlin and Harvey.