Curtis Jones has started Liverpool’s last six games in all competitions from the bench.(Image: Ryan Browne/Shutterstock)
For some Liverpool ‘fans’, not too long ago either, the name Curtis Jones was enough to spark eye rolls and even comments section wars across the internet due to a perceived lack of quality or even accusations of local bias.
But in these same online spaces, the fan reaction to Inter’s interest in Jones during the winter transfer window was near unanimous despair – a reflection of what was, for some, a reluctant acknowledgement of the midfielder’s unique abilities and importance to the squad, whether or not he’s starting games.
Believe it or not, there are people out there who (disingenuously or otherwise) had claimed Jones was the recipient of special treatment – from fans, or the club perhaps, rarely specified of course – for being a Scouser.
Take this comment on a video on LFC news YouTube channel Strictly Liverpool from user @ItiIsWhatItIsInit7, for example:
“If curtis wasnt [sic] a local lad, he would never be bought by Liverpool… nevermind starting 11”.
The choice of username probably says enough, really, without even delving into the absurdity of a Liverpool ‘fan’ (or, at best, a rival fan with far too much time on their hands) criticising Liverpool FC, a team from Liverpool, I might add, for selecting a player from Liverpool.
And that’s before we get into the fact that anyone who understands football can plainly see Jones’ quality.
Having forced his way into Jurgen Klopp’s plans as an attack-minded teenager equally happy on the left of the forward line as at the tip of midfield, Jones has adapted his game over seven years to become one of the Premier League’s outstanding press-resistant midfielders, a role increasingly important in the modern game.
Jones rarely ever gives the ball away and is a metronomic presence in the centre of the pitch when he plays. He performs a similar role to the one Georginio Wijnaldum played in Klopp’s midfield – not always the most eye-catching player on the pitch, but quietly often the most influential.
But even this is to do Jones something of a disservice. With 20 goals and 23 assists from 212 Liverpool appearances, Jones has averaged just over one goal contribution every five games – impressive numbers for a player who typically focuses on build-up and playing the pass before the assist.
He is also one of the most skilful midfielders to play for Liverpool this century, with exceptional close control and a whole range of tricks up his sleeve to wriggle away from opponents or play his way out of danger.
The backheel flick in the recent game against Sunderland comes to mind, or the ‘elastico’ skill he pulled off on his England debut against Greece to carry the ball out from the back before casually lobbing it to a teammate.
It is in these little moments of games that Jones thrives. He can singlehandedly create a transitional moment by playing through a press or beating his man in midfield, before laying the ball off to more attack-minded teammates.
And though Jones may not be the kind of midfielder that will regularly trouble goalkeepers with powerful long-range efforts in the mould of Steven Gerrard or Dominik Szoboszlai, when given the freedom to do so he has shown his aptitude at timing late runs into the box with perfection in a style reminiscent of Ilkay Gundogan – as seen for the opener against Brighton, which came even when playing as a right-back.
Throw in a 6’1″ frame, strength, stamina and quintessentially Scouse cheek to go with the fire in his belly, and you have a player that can gee up the Anfield crowd like no other player in the Liverpool squad.
Put simply, Curtis Jones is the most complete midfielder the Liverpool academy has produced in the last 25 years – by some distance.
Given Arne Slot’s preference for Alexis Mac Allister despite the Argentine’s struggles this season, it probably comes down to a question of profile – as well as the simple fact Mac Allister is a World Cup winner who Liverpool to whom will give every opportunity to regain his form.
Mac Allister, for all that he has been off the pace, is a player typically more involved in the final third than Jones. This season, that has been brought into sharper relief; Liverpool’s No. 17 only has one goal contribution to his name this term, an assist against Burnley, while Mac Allister has scored a winner against Real Madrid and grabbed a brace against Qarabag to go with an assist against Aston Villa and two against Barnsley in the FA Cup.
These are not earth-shattering numbers, but they demonstrate Mac Allister’s ability to maintain a base level of goal threat even when underperforming.
Mac Allister at his best performs a similar tempo-setting role to Jones, while offering a dogged tenacity to break up play and start counter-attacks.
He is equally capable of box-crashing runs and is at least equal to the Scouser in terms of his penalty box finishing ability, but can also call upon his fantastic technique from range to break the deadlock in big games – see the Anfield clash against Spurs when Liverpool wrapped up the league title last season.
Slot has emphasised his preference for midfielders who can contribute to the scoresheet, underlined by his criticism of Szoboszlai for not contributing enough in terms of goal contributions back in September 2024.
This is particularly important for Slot’s attacking midfielders. In two games in the more advanced of the three midfield positions this season, against Barnsley in the FA Cup and Burnley in the league, Jones didn’t manage a shot on target.
It isn’t that Jones can’t contribute in the final third – his career record speaks to that fact, and he got the assist for Florian Wirtz’s opener in the 1-1 draw against Burnley – but he is not the threat that Szoboszlai or Wirtz are, and Slot clearly prefers Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch in the deeper roles.
Jones clearly still offers something none of Liverpool’s other midfielders do, with his pass accuracy (92.1%), long ball accuracy (67.3%), dribble success rate (68.2%), touches per 90 (95.99) and fouls won per 90 (1.46) all higher than any of Liverpool’s other midfielders to have played 180 minutes or more in the Premier League this season (stats per Fotmob).
His xA (expected assists: a good measure of the quality as well as regularity of chances created) of 0.18 per 90, too, puts him above all bar Wirtz.
While he often chooses the safe pass, Jones uses his game intelligence to pick the moment to play incisive balls through the lines, and forged a strong relationship with Wirtz in this capacity during his run of games in the starting XI throughout December.
At times this season, Liverpool have been far too open in transition, and Jones’ ability to dictate possession should, in theory, both minimise the regularity of these situations while helping Liverpool keep the ball and tire teams out.
This could be the main reason Slot has mainly called upon Jones from the bench in the league this season, but he hasn’t been brilliant defensively.
Although Jones has made more recoveries per 90 (6.48) than any other Liverpool midfielder, his 0.57 interceptions per 90 is fewer than all of Liverpool’s other midfielders to have played 180 minutes or more in the Premier League bar Wirtz.
Even so, he’s made more tackles per 90 (1.78) than Mac Allister (1.61) and only Wirtz (0.63 times per 90) has won possession in the final third more often than Jones’ 0.49 times per 90, while winning more of his duels (52.1%) than Mac Allister (44.9%).
Interestingly, Liverpool have conceded 1.7 goals per 90 and 1.44 xG per 90 in the Premier League when Jones has been on the pitch this season, both significantly higher than the next closest midfielder to have played 180 minutes or more (1.42/1.18 in Szoboszlai’s case).
This is more likely a result of the game state when Jones is on the pitch though. Liverpool have been bad at the precise thing Jones is often brought on to help with: seeing out games when leading.
This can’t all be blamed on the midfielder, but his inaction alongside Mac Allister in the Manchester City game created the space for Matheus Nunes to run in behind to win the penalty that saw Erling Haaland score the winning goal.
In his defence, though, Jones was deployed out of position at left back in the closing minutes of that game, with Milos Kerkez having been withdrawn for Federico Chiesa.
In this case, Jones could be seen as a victim of his own versatility in that, during a period in which injuries are stacking up, Slot might see him as too valuable to start given that he can come on and fill in in a variety of positions – but this gives him fewer opportunities to excel in his natural position.
Jones’ current contract runs out in 2027, and Inter’s reported approach in January was not even the first whiff of interest in the Scouse midfielder last month.
Spurs were reported to have considered Jones ahead of signing Conor Gallagher from Atletico, and some reports suggested that interest would remain as Spurs look to add a more progressive midfielder to their ranks.
As a homegrown player with a profile more similar to a typical Spanish number eight than an English one, Jones is something of a rare commodity for English clubs and it is to be expected that more will be interested in the summer if his future remains up in the air.
This is likely to be the case across Europe, too, if Inter’s interest is anything to go by. While Inter aren’t in the same bracket as Liverpool in terms of finances or global support, the Italian side have made the Champions League final in two of the last three seasons.
It remains to be seen if Liverpool would consider selling Jones, though, given the lack of club-trained players in the current squad. Liverpool were said to have no interest in weakening their squad in January, but losing Jones in the summer would come with repercussions too.
Four slots in the maximum 25-man UEFA squad are reserved for players who have spent at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21 on their current club’s books, and Jones is currently one of just three players who meet these criteria for Liverpool – Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley being the others.
If you needed it, this is another reason that accusations of some sort of Scouse bias are nothing short of ridiculous.
Losing Jones would leave Liverpool unable to directly replace him for squad purposes in UEFA competition. (In the Premier League, no distinction is made between club-trained and association-trained players, with eight places reserved for homegrown players regardless of the club they trained at.)
While Liverpool can use an unlimited number of U21 players (provided they have been on the books for at least two years in UEFA competition), selling Jones would essentially mean foregoing one of the 25 senior squad places in European competition next season – if they qualify – unless the club moves to resign a former academy player such as Harry Wilson or Jarell Quansah, whose buy-back clause only comes into play from 2027.
Still, Liverpool are unlikely to keep an unhappy player around, and reports suggested Jones was open to the move to Inter. For a man who has talked up his ambitions to one day captain Liverpool to consider a move mid-season suggests something has gone wrong since Jones spoke of being “the happiest I’ve been” under Slot just a year and a half ago.
“It’s probably the happiest I’ve been in terms of a style of play that suits me and the lads that we have in our team,” Jones said during Slot’s first pre-season at the club in 2024.
“I came around the team as a young lad,” he added. “I always had a way of playing [but] I had to adapt, that was part of the plan. It wasn’t anything I couldn’t do, but I feel now this is more me. I can get on the ball more, I can do me more, so I’m excited.”
If Jones feeling unsettled comes down to nothing more than regular starts, that would be understandable. There is a case to be made – and this author would certainly agree – that Jones should be in Liverpool’s first choice XI this season.
When Liverpool strolled to the league title last season, it was difficult to argue with Slot’s team selections, even as players who had performed well under the previous manager – Quansah and Harvey Elliott most notably – were sidelined.
But now, as Liverpool labour in the league, Jones’ absence feels conspicuous. Despite his superior goals and assists numbers, it would be a tough case to make that Mac Allister has outperformed his teammate this season, with the drop-off from his previous two seasons stark.
An on-field disagreement with Slot caught on camera during the Burnley game – Jones’ last start before the six-game run on the bench – could also have contributed to the midfielder’s more recent absences.
Since the news of Spurs’ interest was first broken on X (Twitter) by Paul O’Keefe on Jan 13, Jones has started just one game in all competitions.
The ECHO’s Paul Gorst asked Slot about Jones’ future during the head coach’s pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of Liverpool’s FA Cup tie against Brighton.
“I think it is perfectly normal that very good football players are in the interest of big clubs, like us, trying to extend with him and clubs wanting to sign him,” Slot said.
“And if you go to the end of your contract, I think it is also normal that other big clubs think: ‘Hmmm, maybe there’s a deal to be done’. Because, and I am saying this every time I am standing here lately, you know our model.
“Other clubs know our model as well, so other clubs might think: ‘OK, there is no use calling them because they don’t sell’, we have a different model. So that could be the reason why there has been some links with other clubs.”
Slot, however, made his feelings clear on Jones’ importance to Liverpool beyond this season, in comments which do raise the question of why he has had so few minutes on the pitch of late.
“He is a Liverpool player and I think I have said this a few times, he is good enough to play for us, to start for us,” Slot added.
“He is a very good player but the only line where we don’t have issues is the midfield and he has been playing the last 18 months more than he ever has in his time at Liverpool. So that tells you a lot about the development he has made.”
“But he is also in competition with a lot of players that I also like and they have done very well for this club as well. So yeah, he will be part of our plans for the upcoming weeks, months and also for next season.”
With Real Madrid reported to still hold an interest in signing Mac Allister, it’s not inconceivable that the long-term plan was for Jones to step up to a regular starting berth from next season.
Club sources have rebuffed claims that Liverpool are set to approach Crystal Palace for Adam Wharton. A defensive midfielder could still be targeted without pushing Jones even further down the pecking order, though, should Wataru Endo leave, having made only 12 appearances before his injury against Sunderland.
The hope from supporters will be that Jones still sees a route to the minutes he craves at Liverpool. A summer sale – or worse, seeing Jones leave after running down his contract – would be nothing short of a disaster from the perspective of long-term squad planning, with the Scouser having all the tools to be a key player at his boyhood club for years to come.
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