LIVERPOOL will move into their new £50million Kirkby training base next month, reports claim.
The Reds were supposed to leave their historic Melwood home at the end of last season.
Jurgen Klopp will take his side to their new Kirkby home next monthCredit: AFP or licensors
But delays brought about by the coronavirus pandemic pushed back their plans to up sticks.
Liverpool sold Melwood to Torus for around £10m, with the land to be used for housing.
But shrewd club chiefs inserted a clause allowing Jurgen Klopp’s men to stay for the 2020-21 campaign, should there be a delay.
The Reds’ first-team and youth sides will now share a base, with owners Fenway Sports Group buying an additional 14 acres of land next to the current academy setting.
Klopp, 53, is understood to have been a key driver of the move, paying homage to Melwood, but also expressing his desire to move on.
And according to The Athletic, with the Kirkby base now complete, Klopp is keen for the Reds to move operations during the international break.
This means that the November 8 clash with Manchester City will be the last to feature pre-match preparations at Melwood.
Speaking back in 2017 on the prospect of a new training ground, Klopp said: “I really love Melwood but football changes.
Liverpool’s stars will have more spacious surrounds to train inCredit: AFP – Getty
“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.
It will only be good for the future of the club. I really believe that infrastructure keeps responsibility up
Jurgen Klopp
“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.
“Staying here for the next 25 years wouldn’t be good for the club. In this moment we have the idea and the opportunity to do something so we have to wait to see when we can say ‘yes, take the next step and start’.'”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
