Liverpool’s academy will undergo a significant £20 million redevelopment as the club’s owners seek to recognise its role in the Reds’ recent success.
The training base for Liverpool’s academy first opened in 1998 and, as reported by the Athletic‘s James Pearce, will now undergo a £20 million redevelopment.
Liverpool will submit a planning application this month, with the aim of completing the project by 2028, which highlights the changes that will be made.
An indoor dome will be built on the current main pitch and connect to the existing building at Kirkby, though this will temporarily displace home matches for the U21s and U19 Youth League.
The outdoor pitch, currently artificial, will be replaced with a grass pitch and will have a new stand for around 500 spectators, a sizeable increase on the current facilities.
The club are also seeking to enhance their medical and sports science areas within the academy set up, with FSG viewing the redevelopment as recognition for the academy’s role in the club’s recent success.
While the significant changes will take place over a number of years, the academy has already had work undertaken over the summer to enhance the existing facilities.
Around £2 million has been injected into the facilities, with cages for small-sided matches, a padbol court, an athletic development and skills area, and new floodlighting installed.
“It’s a big statement. The owners have embarked on a number of infrastructure projects in recent years,” academy director Alex Inglethorpe told the Athletic.
“With the redevelopment of the two stands at Anfield, building the AXA Training Centre to put us all on one site here at Kirkby, and giving Melwood a facelift for the women’s team to go there.
“We’ve always been patient as an academy, knowing where we sit in the order of things, but now it’s our turn and it’s really exciting.
“We’ve never had a full-size indoor facility before that would match up with a lot of our competitors.”
It is timely recognition for the academy, following a summer in which the club recouped £104.4 million from players who have graduated from Liverpool’s youth system.
While first-team matters dominate headlines and discourse, the investment throughout FSG’s tenure off the pitch has taken the club to a new level, and the academy will be no different.
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