Liverpool women team officially move into club's famous Melwood training ground

Liverpool's Women's team have moved into the club's famous Melwood Training Ground, as it was officially opened on Friday.

Officially called the AXA Melwood Training Ground, it will be home to the club's women's team ahead of the new Barclay's WSL season that kicks off this weekend, moving from their current base at Tranmere on the Wirral.

The state-of-the art facility is the new day-to-day base of Matt Beard's team and Reds skipper believes Niamh Fahey the move is a massive step for the women's side.

'Melwood is such an historic place for the club and it's the beginning of a new era now for Liverpool FC Women,' the captain told Liverpoolfc.com. 'So to be here at Melwood and for this to be our home, it's really special.

'It's an elite facility and I think it's going to do wonders for the club. Obviously for us to be in this environment now, it's going to make a massive difference. Everyone is absolutely buzzing.

'The pitches are exceptional as well – we don't have any excuses now. It's top-class.

'We needed an elite facility to be able to grow, progress and obviously attract the best talent, and it's just fantastic for us as players to be in this environment day in, day out.'

Liverpool's men's side first trained at Melwood in the 1950s and it was their famous first-team training ground until November 2020, when they moved to a new £50m facility in Kirby.

Despite local protests planning permission was granted on the site in 2017 for a new housing development, with a proposed plan of 170 new properties approved to be built.

However, once the Robbie Fowler-Jamie Carragher academy moved in to train Liverpool's young stars, plans started to change and earlier this year the club bought back the site with a view to making it the home