Curtis Jones isn’t good enough to play the right-sided central midfield role for Liverpool and should be replaced by Moises Caicedo.
That’s the suggestion of former Liverpool player Don Hutchison. Speaking to ESPN FC following his former club’s signing of Alexis Mac Allister yesterday, Hutchison said Caicedo was the player he really wanted them to sign.
“If Trent’s going to go start playing centre-mid, I wouldn’t imagine Curtis Jones on that right side is going to be good enough protection for him if he’s in that inverted position,” said the pundit. “I’m a massive Caicedo fan. I’ve always said and I think I was on the show a few months back, I wasn’t actually over excited about the Mac Allister move, because I thought Liverpool needed the muscle and the legs of Caicedo and obviously the quality.
“Because their midfield over years has always been a midfield that serviced the front three, they never really scored many goals, but the energy and the dynamism in there serviced the front three.
“So unless Jurgen Klopp is going to go away from that and have the likes of Curtis Jones and Mac Allister as the No.10 and Luis Diaz I think will be on the left-hand side, Gakpo definitely down the middle and Salah on the right.
“So it moves the needle, you’re bringing pure quality in and you’re adding a lot more goals. But competing with Man City with that squad as it stands it’s not happening, they need a couple more.”
Liverpool not thinking about Caicedo
Obviously, Caicedo for Jones wouldn’t be a like-for-like swap. Curtis is more of a ‘free’ player who can influence things further forward, with the Brighton man a little bit more of a natural ‘destroyer.’
However, Caicedo isn’t purely a holding player either. He’s shown for the Seagulls that he’s capable of operating in a couple of different midfield roles.
As a result, if he does end up being brought in, he could surely play one of the wider midfield positions for Liverpool.
At the moment though, his signing doesn’t look especially likely at all. There were reports earlier in the week that the Reds may consider swooping in for him, if he has a massive price reduction.
Although it’s been claimed that his price will indeed be dropped from £100m to £70-£80m, that’s still too much for Liverpool.
As they covet the likes of Khephren Thuram and Manu Kone, they know they can sign players for cheaper than that. Good players, too. So, we think Hutchison’s wishes will go unfulfilled during this window. Caicedo is heading elsewhere.,
And as for Jones, he may not be of the quality to be a starter every game just yet, but he’s still got plenty to offer. Keep plugging away, Curt!
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
