Curtis Jones and the battle for acceptance at Liverpool
The 21-year-old is a player who divides supporters, but are we judging him fairly?
It was Andy Kelly who first alerted me to the talented teenage prospect in Liverpool’s ranks.
‘AK’, as I know him, is one of my best friends. He’s now the press officer for the Reds’ women’s and academy teams, but in 2016 he was a colleague of mine at the Liverpool ECHO, and one of our great shared interests - music, horse racing and fried chicken aside - was the fortunes of the U23 and U18 sides up at Kirkby.
It was AK, as it happens, who first made me aware of a skinny midfielder with a rocket in his right foot and plenty of fire in his belly. His love of Trent Alexander-Arnold would become something of a running gag on the Blood Red podcast, but his judgement was spot on, his faith well-placed. When AK left the ECHO in 2018, Alexander-Arnold signed a shirt for him, thanking him for “all the support down the years.” It was a deserved present.
Anyway, this day in 2016, just a few weeks before Christmas, AK returned to the office with that look in his eye. “I’ve found one, Jonesy,” he told me, waxing lyrical about a 15-year-old who had “run the show” for the U18s against Middlesbrough earlier that afternoon.
Curtis Jones was that player, a confident, almost cocky box of flicks and tricks and skills and smirks. He was a Scouser, the captain of the U16s, and everyone at the Academy thought he had a chance.
Checks with contacts confirmed it. “He’s a diamond, mate,” one told me. “He’ll play first team if he keeps his head down,” said another.
And so it turned out. Jones made his senior debut in the FA Cup down at Wolves, three weeks before his 18th birthday, and now, aged 21, he is a firmly-established member of Jurgen Klopp’s squad.
Tuesday’s win over Napoli was his 80th appearance for Liverpool. Since Steven Gerrard made his debut in 1998, only two players have emerged from the Reds’ academy and played more times for the first team than Jones has. Alexander-Arnold (244 and counting) is one and Raheem Sterling (129) is the other, and even he has an asterisk next to his name, having arrived at the club as a 15-year-old from Queens Park Rangers.
The reason I bring this up is because Jones seems to be something of a divisive figure among supporters at the moment, and it got me thinking about young, home-grown players, the standards we set for them and the way we judge them if we feel they are falling short.
I don’t know about you, but I thought Jones did fine against Napoli. He wasn’t brilliant or spectacular, but he more than played his part in a good team performance against a good team. He worked hard, he might have had a goal or two, he might have had an assist or two and he generally did more things good than bad.
I actually thought he did OK on his other start this season too, against Nottingham Forest. Again, nothing special, but decent enough considering it was his first 90 minutes since May. He had 100 touches, 80-odd passes, won possession more than any other Liverpool player and covered more distance too. He could have moved the ball a bit quicker, granted, but he was fine, even if the result and the team’s general display wasn’t.
The question, I suppose, is whether ‘fine’ is good enough for Liverpool these days, and whether some players are held to a higher standard than others, given less time, less patience and less understanding as to just how hard it is to establish yourself as a young footballer in one of the world’s best teams.
Jones, clearly, has talent and potential and lots of it. You don’t play as regularly as he has in a Jurgen Klopp side if not. Eighty appearances, 49 of them starts, is some going in an era such as this for Liverpool. He’s stayed the course while other talents, big talents, have not. There’s a reason for that.
Sure, he still has work to do if he is to fulfil that potential, and it may well prove that he isn’t quite good enough to nail down a regular starting place in the long term. I’m one of his biggest advocates, and even I wonder whether he’ll manage it.
But I know he’ll be trying, and I know that he deserves to be supported and encouraged as he does so. He’s been at the club since he was eight years old, and trust me; nobody is more desperate to bring success to Liverpool than he is.
There are a lot who are unconvinced by Jones, and that’s fine. It’s his job to win them over. But just remember, there were plenty who were unconvinced by Jordan Henderson at 21, and who had barely registered Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Andy Robertson, Bobby Firmino, Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Gini Wijnaldum, Virgil van Dijk or Alisson Becker at the same age. Some would have sent Alexander-Arnold back to the U21s after a few dodgy early showings too, I’m sure. Not AK, mind!
The point is that players deserve chances. We all agree that Liverpool need something of an overhaul in terms of midfielders over the next 12 months, but Jones has shown that he can be part of that future. It’s been a strange 12 months, with injuries and setbacks and a few indifferent showings, but there’s player there, I’m sure, and I believe Klopp and his staff agree. He’s here now, fit and available and desperate to make up for lost time.
Give him the chance to do it, I say. He’s already making a better fist of it than most.
Elsewhere…
Jordan Henderson is back for Liverpool’s trip to Tottenham after missing the Napoli game as a precaution. James Milner, though, is out due to the blow to the head he suffered on Tuesday night.
There was no sign of Naby Keita in Friday’s training pics. Surely not another injury?
Tottenham are without Son Heung-min, Richarlison and Cristian Romero for Sunday’s game, while Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski are doubtful, according to Antonio Conte.
Jurgen Klopp gave me short shrift when I attempted to ask a question at the press conference about the mindset of players - and managers - with the World Cup just two weeks away. “I hate this subject,” he told me, labelling the decision to host the tournament mid-season as “crazy.” I don’t think many would disagree with him on that score. I certainly don’t.
The Football Association has announced it is appealing against the Independent Regulatory Committee’s sanction in relation to Klopp’s recent misconduct charge, following the game against Manchester City. Klopp was fined £30,000 for his behaviour towards assistant referee Gary Beswick, but the FA look to be pushing for a touchline ban. Let’s see if they get their way.
Virgil van Dijk’s episode of The Overlap with Gary Neville dropped on Friday, and it’s pretty revealing. There are a few digs towards television pundits - he doesn’t seem too hot on Jamie Carragher, does he - and a nice insight into why he was so keen to sign for Liverpool, and what he felt when sidelined with that cruciate ligament injury a couple of years ago. Check it out here.
The U21s are in action on Sunday against Fulham at Kirkby (2pm kick off), while the U18s take on Wolves away on Saturday (12 noon).
The Women were unlucky in losing 2-1 at Manchester City last weekend, and now face a bit of a six-pointer at Prenton Park against Aston Villa on Sunday (2pm). Get over there if you aren’t travelling down to Spurs, Matt Beard’s side would welcome the support as they look to get their first win since the opening day of the campaign.
Liverpool’s potential Champions League last 16 opponents are confirmed. It’ll either be a European heavyweight in Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, or a Portuguese giant in Benfica or Porto. We all breathed a sigh of relief when Paris Saint-Germain missed out on top spot in their group, I’m sure. Nobody was looking forward to a trip to the French capital, and that has nothing to do with Lionel Messi or Kylian Mbappe.
I'm definitely a fan of Curtis. He's been terribly unfortunate with a couple of freak injuries. It's not only the nature of the injuries, but the timing of them that has sucked. Add to that that now he's finally getting a run, there's a world cup only a couple of weeks away and I think he's entitled to feel a little hard done by. The only thing I'm not sure about is what his best position is. I'd be interested to know where he thinks he should play. Either way, he's never had that 6 month period to allow himself to settle and work on his decision making, which is my only criticism of him. Ball retention has always been quite impressive however. Would like to see more chances for him.
I personally think Curtis is an excellent player, what he needs is a good run in the 1st team.
He has been a bit unfortunate with injury which has curtailed his 1st team opportunities.
He is a versatile player and maybe that's his way forward (the new Milner?).
Anyway I hope he makes it at Liverpool.