I know Steve Rotheram needs that big pot of cash from the government but there is no way he can deliver this on the footprint that is Liverpool central
Something like this would require levelling Newington Street. See the attached pictures. There are old buildings just out of shot, including the Egg Cafe. I'm not convinced they would survive a rebuild like this.
I don't see the point. What Central Station needs is more capacity; there's no point giving it a face lift if the platforms are still overcrowded. Either make use of the previously dug header tunnels to expand Central to four platforms, or bring disused infrastructure back into use to divert Ormskirk and Kirkby/Headbolt Lane trains to a new high level station close to where Exchange Street used to be. Those routes could soon be extended to serve Preston and Wigan Wallgate, so passenger numbers are only going to go up.
EDIT: Sorry, I missed the link to the Echo article. I'm not opposed to the idea, as long as it doesn't involve removing any existing buildings, expanding Liverpool Central is going to be challenging. Personally, I think it's possible to drive a tunnel from Cressington station and building an underground station at Liverpool Airport, but whether that's affordable I don't know.