When deciding who to hand a new contract too at Liverpool Football Club, it remains just as important that the club gets its decisions right around the backroom staff just as much as the players on the pitch.
In Alex Inglethorpe, the Merseysiders appear to have put their trust in the right man for the foreseeable future after the 50-year-old put pen to paper on a new long-term deal as the side’s Academy director.
VOTE for Empire of the Kop as Best Club Content Creator (Premier League) here: Football Content Awards
OR on Twitter with the FCA’s one-click Twitter link with: I am voting for @Empireofthekop in @The_FCAs for #BestClubContentCreator (Premier League)
Speaking about his decision, the ex-Watford forward made it crystal clear that it would have been foolish to choose to depart the club given its current status in the game.
“It’s Liverpool Football Club. You have to be careful if you choose to leave. Like many people, I think this is probably the pinnacle,” the former Tottenham employee told the club’s official website.
“I’m a coach so my way of connecting and developing the talent here is to work with them, whether that’s a nine-year-old or a 21-year-old, it’s the same.
“My primary role is to be around the players and to help them. It’s a privilege and an honour. Every day I feel very lucky to be getting out of bed and working with the staff that I am and working with the players that I’ve got.
“It really isn’t much of a decision. Like most people, I spent the best part of 20 years trying to get here and when you’re here you don’t really want to leave. I think that’s probably true for a lot of players too.”
With players like Tyler Morton and Kaide Gordon earning minutes with the senior side, there’s been clear evidence of the crucial nature of the work being done in the Academy to bolster Jurgen Klopp’s ranks with top up and coming talent.
Inevitably, it won’t always work out for some graduates with the likes of Kevin Stewart and Harry Wilson, amongst others, not quite making the cut despite signs of promise.
Still, the prospect of delivering further generational talents like Trent Alexander-Arnold remains the ambition; it’s arguably an achievable one too, we would be inclined to add, under the continued stewardship of Inglethorpe.