This is exciting!
I know there's been talk for a long time to have everyone together on one site but it seems it's finally going to become a reality.
Liverpool to merge first-team and academy set-ups: They could leave Melwood for Kirkby
LIVERPOOL are to amalgamate their first team and academy set-ups in a decision which will see the club move from its historic Melwood training ground complex.
By Paul Joyce
PUBLISHED: 00:02, Thu, Oct 27, 2016 | UPDATED: 00:11, Thu, Oct 27, 2016
Plans are at an embryonic stage with top level discussions ongoing at Liverpool but a resolution to join the sites has been taken.
Melwood, in the West Derby area of the city, is situated six miles from the academy in Kirkby and means there is a degree of separation despite the strength of the relationship between manager Jürgen Klopp and academy director Alex Inglethorpe.
Renovating Melwood to include the academy is not an option due to space restrictions and the prospect of moving the first team to Kirkby, where there is room to expand, is the stand-out option.
However, while feasibility studies are likely to take place on that, Liverpool will consider other possibilities also.
Klopp believes Liverpool will benefit from being on one site and the work of the academy coaches has been brought into sharper focus this week with 18-year-old's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ovie Ejaria both making their full debuts in Tuesday's 2-1 EFL Cup win over Tottenham.
Both those youngsters now train with the first team, but others remain out of sight on a daily basis to the management and the decision to change the club's infrastructure has long-since been mooted for that reason.
Liverpool purchased Melwood in 1950 from the governors of St Francis Xavier College and it was revolutionised and rebuilt in 2001 during the tenure of Gerard Houllier, who recognised the need to bring the facilities into the 21st century.
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/725534/Liverpool-merge-first-team-academy-set-ups-Melwood-Kirkby-Premier-League-News-Gossip
Logged