Liverpool academy boss Michael Beale has revealed that his impending move to Sao Paulo materialised following a visit from club manager Rogerio Ceni at the Reds' training ground.

Beale is set to join Ceni as an assistant manager at the massive Brazilian club in January.

He told LFCTV's 'Academy Show': "Rogerio was in England visiting a number of coaches.

"He met Claudio Ranieri at Leicester City and Claude Puel at Southampton, Slaven Bilic at West Ham and he went in to see Antonio Conte at Chelsea.

"He then came up north and there were quite a few Brazilians up here that he was meeting up with.

"A guy who was with him I've known for about seven years is a lawyer for the club and he phoned me and asked could Rogerio come up and visit the Academy.

"He spent a couple of days watching us train and I didn't think anything of it.

"We were getting ready for our game against Reading and when I was on the coach on the way back from the game, we played really well that day so I was feeling good about things.

"I then got a phone call out of the blue saying that Rogerio was going to be offered the job and I was asked would I be interested in having a chat with him and it all went from there really.

"We have very similar ideas on the game and he was very clear what he wants from me and how I can help him and help Sao Paulo.

"They are a club of similar size to Liverpool, they have a 70,000 all-seater stadium and they have won the most trophies - so very similar to Liverpool here in England."