Move from Melwood will safeguard Liverpool's future - Klopp
(Reuters) - Manager Juergen Klopp said Liverpool have taken a step in the right direction with plans to move away from their long-time first team training base in Melwood to a redeveloped site in Kirkby, where their youth academy is located.
Liverpool plan to spend 50 million pounds ($60 million) redeveloping the combined training centre and converting the main pitch into an indoor one.
"I really love Melwood but football changes. Sometimes you have to set standards," Klopp, who has been a keen advocate of using a larger facility to accommodate the first team and the academy, told reporters on Friday.
"It will be bigger. We cannot avoid this. We cannot stay where we are and cope with the other teams. It's really good we have the opportunity to make the big step in the future.
"I really believe the infrastructure helps. If we stay at Melwood for the next 25 years that's not good for the club."
Klopp also heaped praise on Adam Lallana after the midfielder signed a new three-year deal on Wednesday.
"We had to try everything to keep a player like him. Since I've been here, he has been a really important player for all the development steps we have taken," Klopp said.
"He is a good guy and at a perfect age to deliver consistency."
With only one win in their last six Premier League games, Liverpool have dropped to fifth place, 11 points behind leaders Chelsea with 13 games remaining.
Liverpool travel to face relegation-threatened league champions Leicester City on Monday.
(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Louise Ireland)