Steven Gerrard once urged Liverpool not to sell 22-year-old midfielder, now he’s being proven completely right

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It’s easy to forget but Steven Gerrard wasn’t just a player at Liverpool. For a brief period of time he was also a coach.

Upon retiring from football, Gerrard’s first job was as an academy coach at the club. He managed the Reds’ U18 side for an entire season before moving onto pastures new at Rangers.

Overall, Gerrard did a stellar job in charge of a very talented U18 group at the time full of youth internationals and players who would go onto play at a high level in adult football.

Among them was Curtis Jones, who will have learned a lot from the Liverpool idol. Under Gerrard, Jones scored 16 goals and registered six assists in just 25 games. And it is no secret he made the former Liverpool number eight a big admirer of his talent.

In the past, Gerrard revealed on the Anfield Wrap that he even encouraged Jurgen Klopp to keep his faith in Jones, during times when things weren’t always going his way.

“I remember having a conversation with Jurgen and we were talking about Curtis,” Gerrard said. “And he was like ‘yeah you know there’s a few little things that we need to improve in a few areas’ and all that. I said ‘yeah I get that and obviously you’ve all seen him a lot more than me’

“Because he was spend more time at Melwood at the time but I said to Jurgen: ‘Stay with this kid, whatever you’re thinking, keep him and stay with him because he won’t let you down. Once you get him right and you’ve fixed the few little things that you need to fix, he won’t let you down, he will be there for you.’ And I think he’s showing Jurgen that now.”

Gerrard proven right about Curtis Jones

Gerrard’s words have almost become prophetic since then. Over the last year or so, Jones has quite suddenly become one of the first names on the team-sheet for Klopp, when fit.

His performances have been scintillating at times, and it is evident he is now starting to mature into the kind of player Gerrard expected him to become. The kind of player that was evident he had the potential to become at academy level.

Over his last 27 games for Liverpool, Jones now has 10 goal contributions. Stretch that into a 35-40 game season, and Liverpool has a midfielder who is more than capable of getting into double-figures in terms of goals and assists combined a season.

If we are being honest Liverpool haven’t had that kind of midfielder since Gerrard left the club. So it’s probably quite serendipitous that it’s now his former protégé who is taking on this mantle in Klopp’s side.