Premiership: Leeds to build £5m fitness academy

Leeds United hope to have a £5m training and fitness academy built in time for the start of next season.

Work will start next month on the state-of-the-art complex which will built at the club’s Thorp Arch training ground.

Facilities will include a full-size indoor training pitch, offices, a rehabilitation pool and a medical centre.

Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale said: ‘‘We hope it will be built by next August and it is an exciting venture for the club.

‘‘It reflects the progress we are making and is also an investment in the future.

‘‘Instead of having to beg and borrow or have members of the squad taken elsewhere for certain aspects of treatment we can do almost everything on site,’’ he said.