Stephen Torpey has spoken out in an interview with external media after his appointment as Man Utd’s academy chief.
12:00, 17 Mar 2026Updated 12:09, 17 Mar 2026
When Sir Jim Ratcliffe singled out the Manchester United academy as having “slipped” with some of his customary direct feedback in October, he highlighted the appointment of Stephen Torpey as evidence of change.
Torpey is the latest Old Trafford recruit from the Manchester City blueprint Ratcliffe so admires, and that introduction from the United co-owner was pretty clear.
“The academy has really slipped at Manchester United,” Ratcliffe said. “You need the academy to be producing talent all the time. It helps you financially. That’s not a light switch. You don’t solve the academy problem overnight. It takes time.”
United’s first team will play just 40 games this season. An unusually sparse schedule at first team level has led to heightened interest in the club’s academy, as has the emergence of young talents like JJ Gabriel.
Torpey wants to develop some of the country’s best young players at Carrington. Gabriel, who has scored 23 goals in 25 appearances for the U18s this season, fits that billing.
The 15-year-old has starred in the youth set-up and has already trained with the first team on several occasions. Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada were involved in a meeting last summer to ensure Gabriel remained at Old Trafford.
“I’ve got to be careful that I don’t put unnecessary pressure on anyone from the academy,” Torpey said in response to a question about Gabriel. “I think it’s well documented with the number of players that are out there, and they’re performing really well, and they’re doing extremely well.
“I suppose when you look at those types of players, they give you these moments of magic and these bits that get you off your seat, and sometimes that’s a really good tackle, sometimes that’s a goal line clearance.
“The other times, it’s a great bit of skill on the edge of the box, like we saw last weekend when he wrapped it in the top corner. You see these things, but there’s a lot that can go on. We have some special talents right now in our groups, and JJ is one of those, for sure.”
Torpey wants United’s academy to be the best in the world and knows how crucial a clear plan will be. “There are things we can improve, they are areas where we can be better, but that’s evolution, that’s just common in every single organisation,” he said.
“We don’t want to be complacent. I don’t work like that. I’m always thinking about what’s next. It’s the same with some of the staff, really, when we do something good, it’s like great, what’s next?
“I want to help us be the greatest academy in the world and do it in a way that we can be proud of, which is with clear processes, a method about the way we do things, with the best people.”
Torpey continued: “I’m looking for players to do things that are above their year group. I’m not necessarily looking for consistency in youth, I think, because I need to see capability, and we also need to see mistakes, because they need to fail in order to be equipped upon arrival to the first team.
“So we are excited by a number of players, for sure, but I’m looking for those standout moments, and for the player you named [Gabriel], he’s showing those things, which is great.
“But we’ve also got to make sure he’s doing the responsible non-negotiable parts of the game as well, which is the other side of it. Is he tracking back? Is he working for the team? Is he making good decisions? He does make fantastic decisions a lot of the time.
“It’s not for us to create robots here, it’s for us to allow individuals to flourish the way they want to flourish and therefore express themselves in a way they want to express themselves.”
Torpey was reluctant to discuss individual players, but politely answered when asked whether he was excited about Gabriel. “We’re all excited. I think the whole club’s excited by the talent that we’re seeing right now, and we’ve got to handle it with care,” he said.
“It’s easier to spoil talent than it is to help it flourish.”
Torpey was born in Merseyside and came through Liverpool’s academy as a teenager. After retiring from playing, he pursued a coaching career and ended up at Manchester City, so he hasn’t taken an orthodox route to working for United.
Torpey “loves” his new job as head of United’s academy, though. “I’m really excited about coming into work every day. Being here is really inspiring for me. I feel really happy about it. I think that it’s the sort of pinnacle of youth football in terms of the role I’m currently holding, which is something I’ve worked a long, long time for.”
In June, the MEN were the first outlet to report that United were considering appointing Torpey to replace Nick Cox. A month earlier, United had announced that Cox was set to leave the academy after nine years of service to become Everton’s technical director, creating the vacancy at United.
Cox played a pivotal role in the United academy’s renaissance, securing top youth signings and overseeing an FA Youth Cup triumph in 2021/22, setting the bar for his successor.
Torpey joined from Brentford and officially started work in September. “The brief for me, so to speak, is just that we want to be the best, we want to be the greatest academy around, we want to be the greatest football club in the world. That’s not changed,” he explained.
“I think Manchester United can say over the years, certainly in the UK, that we’ve got the conveyor belt of talent, we’ve got the production line that would suggest we are up there with the greatest.
“And my remit is to make sure that we can all look in the mirror, hand on heart, and say that we feel we’re really challenging for that status. And my view really is that we’ve just got to think critically about what we do, we’ve got to innovate where we can, and we’ve got to do this with the best possible people.
“We’ve got some unbelievable people. You arrive to a real warm welcome with people who are good at what they do, experienced at what they do. But ultimately, there are things we can improve, there are areas where we can be better, but that’s evolution, that’s just common in every single organisation.”
Torpey was asked about Ratcliffe’s comment on the academy, suggesting the co-owner was referring to the facilities rather than the academy itself. “Ultimately, I think that was based on things like facilities,” he said. “You’re sitting in this beautiful [first-team] building right now, and it’s like decorating your home for me.
“You do one room, and maybe you feel like one of the other rooms does not feel the same as the rest of the house. We’ve got to do the academy and there’s a plan in place now for us to refurbish and regenerate.
“We need to do a lot of work around the academy facilities as well. So I think those kinds of comments are based around that because I think it’s clear that you could say that the academy building isn’t as advanced as where the first team is right now, but there’s a phase into that.”
Torpey said improving the academy’s facilities was the natural next step for him as the new academy boss. United spent £50million to refurbish the first-team building, and the club is planning to bring academy facilities in line with the ‘leading standards’ they have for the main facility.
There will be upheaval when the academy building is redeveloped, meaning the Under-21s and Under-18s will use the modular building, a two-storey block behind the main building. The women’s team used the same set-up during the £10m redevelopment of their facilities at Carrington.
The modular building is already equipped to house an elite team and staff, but it will be further developed for specific academy needs to ensure minimal disruption for the U21s and U18s.
Cooling expectations around Gabriel will be another challenge for Torpey. The youngster has a huge following on social media, and Bryan Mbeumo described him as “something special” during an interview on a YouTube channel last week.
“That’s the modern era,” said Torpey of dealing with the spotlight on young players. “I think at most clubs now there’s some kind of media coverage of the youth players. There’s also the fact that the boys who play now in the U18s have never known a life without social media.
“That’s not the world I grew up in when I was playing. We are currently looking at our comms strategy and what we should do, you know, to try to prevent certain things and also protect certain things. We’ve got young people who, because of society, are craving clicks and followers.
“We have to embrace that a little bit, it’s not necessarily something I’m comfortable with, but maybe we have to embrace that for the future, maybe create our own version of how we can give them that stimulus.”
Darren Fletcher returned to manage the U18s after serving as first-team caretaker, and Torpey has enjoyed working with him. “I’ve known Darren for years,” he explained. “I’ve known him through the family, working with the boys [Jack and Tyler Fletcher] previously.
“He’s always come across as a really amazing guy, a really clever guy, studious in terms of football, obviously passionate about football and Manchester United in particular. So, to arrive at the club with Darren here is quite warm for me, it’s familiar in terms of seeing Darren.
“He’s a leader, that’s the one thing I would say, he leads by example. He’s a real leader here at the club. He knows what it means to be at Manchester United. I think the boys look up to him.”
Carrick has shown support for the academy by attending the majority of youth matches since his appointment. The 44-year-old even made a 300-mile round trip to watch the U18s against Oxford recently.
“That says everything about him as an individual, but I also think it’s what Manchester United people do,” Torpey said of the interim first-team head coach. “It’s what they know about, it’s what they feel. It’s gone down extremely well. It’s not been done for a gimmick, it’s done because it’s genuine.”
Last month, academy staff held a meeting and the department heads were asked to share success stories from their teams. “Michael turned up, and he took it upon himself to come,” Torpey said.
The academy is being transformed, but the likes of Carrick and Fletcher will do their best to help retain traditional values. Torpey seems on board as the academy drives into the future.
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