LIV to splash out £20m on development after spree of £446m in transfer window

Liverpool are reportedly set to spend £20million on revamping their academy for its biggest makeover in almost three decades.

For roughly the price of Alexander Isak's arm, Merseyside's youngsters will get an enormous dome containing a football pitch, while there will also be improved medical and sports science facilities and a 500-person stand.

Liverpool's academy has produced some of the club's best players down the years including Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Steve McManaman.

Fenway Sports Group see the development as recognition of that contribution, with The Atletic breaking the story that the £20m redevelopment is hoped to be completed by 2028.

It is small change compared to their summer spend, which heralded a change in strategy as they splashed out £446m on Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Giovanni Leoni, and Freddie Woodman, who arrived on a free.

Academy director Alex Inglethorpe told The Athletic: '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.

'We’re already reaping the benefits of the changes made this summer. It’s important for the boys and their families to see that investment. I’ve always felt supported and there’s recognition from the club that we have contributed a lot in terms of player sales.

'We’ve won things in the past with a contribution from the academy, but when you win the Premier League and you do it with more academy minutes than any other club, I don’t think it gets better than that. I don’t believe anyone else has done that since Alex Ferguson’s era at Manchester United.

'We know that this is probably the end of a cycle. You can’t expect to recoup a lot of money and then continue to have the same level of contribution from academy products on the field. It’s something that’s got to be built up again.

'We’re constantly trying to evaluate and innovate. The boys are here from six years of age, four times a week, you can’t lose that magic, you have to find new ways of them really wanting to be here. The padbol court is being well used and it’s the same with the cages.'

The Athletic reports that Fenway Sports Group technical director Julian Ward visited 25 clubs across Europe to develop his ideas for the project.

Inglethorpe's comment about 'the order of things' references how Liverpool have spent big on other infrastructure projects first.

In 2020, they bid goodbye to Melwood after 70 years and moved into their new £50m training centre in Kirkby.

In 2023, the women's team moved into a revitalised Melwood to begin their next chapter.

Liverpool have already poured around £2m into improving the current academy facilities, installing cages for small-sided matches - where many cities players make their first steps - and a 'padbol' court. Haven't heard of padbol? Think a combination of padel, football, squash and volleyball.

Even without selling Alexander-Arnold for an exorbitant sum - he went to Real Madrid for around £10m - Liverpool have made more than £200m from selling youth academy products in the last five years.