LIVERPOOL -- Jurgen Klopp insists Liverpool's desire to merge their first-team training base with the current academy setup in Kirkby is necessary if the club are to keep moving forward.

Earlier this week, Liverpool announced plans to make the five-mile move to Kirkby as part of a £50 million project to develop the site, which has housed the academy since 1998.

Liverpool's current training ground, Melwood, has been in use since the 1950s, and while Klopp "loves" the complex, he says the switch is needed due to a lack of space, as well as other constraints.

"It's not too easy to say the exact point we are in this moment," Klopp told a news conference on Friday. "But that we plan it was not a secret. How I said a few times, I love Melwood, I love being here. But football changes and everything will be bigger [in Kirkby].

"We cannot avoid this and stay like you always were and hope you can cope with the other teams, so you have to move. Sometimes you have to set standards and it's really good that our owners give us the opportunity to make this big step in the future.

Jurgen Klopp is looking forward to the move to Kirkby. Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images

"I think 25 years ago or something Melwood was at a set level. I think in these 25 years a lot of things happened. This is fantastic but we have no space. If we want to have one more office, we don't know where to go. That's the situation."

Liverpool hope to have their first team and youth teams all together on one site, with former Reds midfielder Jan Molby believing the presence of elite professionals on a daily basis can help inspire the club's youngsters.

Liverpool's owners, Fenway Sports Group, have committed the funds to the project, and Klopp believes the proposed state-of-the-art Kirkby site will help improve the "infrastructure" of the Merseyside outfit.

"One point, of course, is bringing the academy and the first team together," Klopp said. "That's one point, and to improve a lot of other things which we couldn't improve here is another target.

"It will be good and it's only good for the club and the future of the club. I really believe infrastructure keeps responsibility up and helps. If we stay here [for] the 25 years then, for sure, it's not good for the club.

"In this moment, we obviously have the idea and the opportunity to do something. We have to wait when we exactly can say we made the next steps and know exactly when we start. But we thought already a lot about it and when we can start, we will inform you immediately."