Liverpool have been training at Melwood for decades, but by the beginning of the 2019/20 season, that will all change.
We’ve agreed a massive redevelopment project, which will cost £50m and see the first-team complex integrate with the Kirkby Academy.
Work will start in 2018 once planning permission has been granted, while Melwood will be sold for housing, recouping some of the financial outlay.
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According to Jurgen Klopp, who’s been instrumental in the decision to move, it’s a necessity for the long-term future of the club.
“If we want to have one more office, we have nowhere to go,” he told a press-conference today, cited in the Echo.
“That’s the situation at Melwood.
“One point is bringing the Academy and first team together, and another is to improve other things we couldn’t here.
“I really believe the infrastructure helps. If we stay at Melwood for the next 25 years that’s not good for the club.”
Klopp is desperate to combine the Academy and the first-team, which he believes will make progression through the youth teams to the senior side easier and more fluid.
The five mile gap between Kirby and Melwood means Klopp is separated from the youth teams and has to call players up specifically to see them first-hand.
In a few years, the boss (who’ll hopefully still be at Liverpool), will be able to finish his first-team session, walk over to the Under-18s and impart some wisdom, before checking out a different group of youth players!
It promoted integration and unity, which can only be good for youngsters hoping to become first-team regulars one day.