Hi-tech Villa set to get in swim

Villa will become one of only three English clubs to have a state-of-the-art training pool at their new £8.5m training ground.

Villa will become one of only three English clubs to have a state-of-the-art training pool at their new £8.5m training ground.The club are to invest in a pool complete with underwater treadmill, moveable floor and underwater video monitoring system.

Villa will join Manchester United and Chelsea in boasting HydroWorx pools, with the Premiership's top two boasting a variable speed underwater treadmill, directional resistance jets and video monitoring system.

The American company will also build and install hot and cold therapy pools at Bodymoor.

Many top physios say injuries heal faster when players rehabilitate on underwater treadmills because they can walk or run without over-taxing the joint in the near weightless environment.

Chairman Randy Lerner ordered work on the £8m training complex to resume when he took over on September 19, with Villa planning to move in next summer.

Former chairman Doug Ellis viewed four clubs' training grounds, and, with the aid of an architect, helped combine the best features from them with their ideas to achieve a facility to compare with the best.

Operations director Steve Stride said: "These facilities should ensure a training ground comparable, if not better, than any of those of our competitors.

"These new facilities will be state-of-the-art and will provide the very best players with everything they could wish for at a Premiership football club."