31 January 2023 , 17:57
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Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has confirmed the club have made an approach to re-buy their old Melwood training ground for their women's team.
The Reds departed their old base in West Derby in November 2020 to move to their brand new £50m AXA Training Centre in Kirkby. Affordable housing developer Torus bought the site from Liverpool and later teamed up with club legends Carragher and Robbie Fowler in 2021 to retain it for community work.
Now, the former Reds defender has confirmed the base could return to Liverpool's hands as they look to find a new home for their women's side.
On Tuesday he tweeted: "Breaking News! Liverpool have made an approach & are trying to buy back Melwood for LFC Women’s Team!"
Matt Beard's team currently train at Tranmere's Solar Campus in Wallasey, Wirral. They also share the League Two side's stadium, Prenton Park.
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The Liverpool boss has previously expressed the club hoped to have their own training base for the 2023/24 season, with all options being explored. Beard told This Is Anfield at the end of last season: “If you look at Kirkby, if we went there you can probably only house the first team.
"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. We want to develop our own players, like what’s happened on the men’s side. We want to replicate that. It’s going to take a little bit of time but the start of that process is getting our own training facility.”
The club returning to Melwood would represent a huge step in the right direction for the women's team after they returned to the top-flight this season. As the men's side clinched the Premier League title in the 2019/20 season, Liverpool Women were relegated to the Championship.
They spent two campaigns in the second division before they clinched promotion last term, and Beard is now looking to secure the club's WSL status for the future. They began the season with a dramatic 2-1 win over league-holders Chelsea, but failed to pick up any points until the end of November.
Liverpool Women currently train at Tranmere's Solar Campus (Photo by Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)They currently sit ninth in the table with eight points, with just five points separating them and Leicester City in 12th. Liverpool wouldn't be the first club to repurpose the men's training base for the women's side, however.
When Leicester City departed Belvoir Drive in December 2020, the same time Liverpool left Melwood, the Foxes opted not to sell it off and, instead, it became the home of their women's team.
According to Carragher, it now seems Liverpool are opting to take a similar route in the latest commitment to their women's set-up.