It’s been revealed that Liverpool are in talks to reacquire their old Melwood training ground, with a view to it becoming the base for the women’s team.
In November 2020, Liverpool left Melwood for the AXA Training Centre in Kirkby, having sold their iconic previous facilities one year earlier.
But the club are now considering the repurchase of Melwood for the women’s team, who do not train at the AXA.
In May 2021, Jamie Carragher and Robbie Fowler bought the site to host their academies at the historic site in the city, ensuring that the base would still be used for football going forward.
In a tweet on Tuesday afternoon, Carragher was first to reveal the news that Liverpool have made an approach to “buy back” Melwood.
Breaking News!
Liverpool have made an approach & are trying to buy back Melwood for LFC Women’s Team!
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) January 31, 2023
Later in the evening, Liverpool released a statement in response to Carragher’s post:
“LFC is continuing to evaluate a number of sites for a possible new training ground for LFC Women. The project team has not yet made a final decision on a preferred site but will update supporters as soon as it is possible to do so.”
Liverpool Women currently train at Tranmere Rovers’ The Campus training ground on the Wirral, but last year, manager Matt Beard told This Is Anfield that his team were set to get their own training base in 2023.
Beard’s comments at the time indicated that a base had already been lined up, with a view to the team moving in this coming summer.
However, news that the club have made an approach to repurchase Melwood may suggest that those initial plans have fallen through.
One option that had been looked at was the merging of the women onto Kirkby, but Beard explained why his and the club’s preference was for the women to have their own home on Merseyside which can house players from the academy to the first team:
“If you look at Kirkby, if we went there you can probably only house the first team,” he said.
“From our perspective, we have the under-21s, the youth system. The youth system are training at three different venues at the moment.
“We want to get a base not just for the first team but for the women’s setup, I think that’s important.
“Kirkby wouldn’t be able to house under-18s, under-21s, first team. My preference would be where we can house them together.”
Several sites were identified by the club in a search led by Susan Black, who was appointed as women’s executive director in September 2020.
But it would now seem that Melwood could be the most likely new base for LFC Women.
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