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Liverpool agree contract extension with a £20m academy revamp on its way.
Liverpool’s academy underwent a period of change during the summer with long-serving coaches Barry Lewtas and Marc Bridge-Wilkinson departed their roles as U21s coach and U18s boss respectively.
The Reds have sine appointed former Wales national team manager Rob Page in charge of the U21s while Simon Wiles moved from Manchester United to take over the U18s.
Alex Inglethorpe is Liverpool’s Academy director. The 53-year-old has been at the club for thirteen years having arrived from Tottenham Hotspur back in 2012, initially working as a coach for the U21s side.
He has spent the majority of his time on Merseyside as the head of the Academy, guiding the progress of players such as Curtis Jones and Conor Bradley into the first team set up.
Inglethorpe was due to be out of contract with the club at the end of the season, but he has reached an agreement on a contract extension with the Reds wanting him to oversee a £20million revamp of the Academy facilities at Kirby which is due to be completed in 2028.
Speaking on the incoming revamp back in September, Inglethorpe said: “It’s a big statement. The owners have embarked on a number of infrastructure projects in recent years with the development of the two stands at Anfield, building the AXA Training Centre to put us all on one site here at Kirby, and giving Melwood a facelift for the women’ team to go there.”
“We’ve always been patient as an academy, knowing where we sit in the order of things, but now it’s our turn and it’s really exciting.”
“We’ve never had a full-size indoor facility before that would match up with a lot of our competitors. While I’m all for toughening them up in the Kirkby wind and rain, there are a lot of days when we have to cancel training, or the quality of a session is compromised. It’s going to make a massive difference.”
Liverpool have extended the contract of long-serving academy director Alex Inglethorpe.
Been a highly productive era at Kirkby with youngsters progressing into the senior ranks and some £200m generated from the sales of academy products. #LFC https://t.co/JC2myN0tky
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) November 7, 2025
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