Former City director Torpey becomes United head

MANCHESTER United formally announced Stephen Torpey as the head of the academy on Wednesday.

- By STEVEN RAILSTON

In June, it was confirmed that Nick Cox was set to leave after nine years of service to become technical director at Everton. During his time in charge, Cox has played a pivotal role in United's academy's renaissance, securing top youth signings and overseeing an FA Youth Cup triumph in 2021/22.

Torpey has big shoes to fill. He worked closely with Jason Wilcox at Manchester City and the pair sat together at Old Trafford to watch the Under-21s against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday.

United have hired Torpey from Brentford, where he worked as the academy director from January 2024. Brentford hired Torpey to essentially build their academy from scratch and deliver Category One academy status. Torpey was previously at City, where he spent nine-and-a-half years in different positions.