Liverpool have produced some incredible talent over the years and youngsters have a clear path to the first team.
The Reds academy is one of the best in England and despite being a huge club that challenges for every trophy, youngsters still get the chance to shine.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Conor Bradley and Curtis Jones are just some names who have risen up the ranks and become regular members of the first team over the years, with the latter, perhaps, the most loved.
With Alexander-Arnold no longer at the club, Jones is well and truly the ‘scouser in the team’, with the midfielder leaving absolutely everything on the pitch each time he plays.
He may not play all that often but he has been destined to pull on the Red shirt since the very beginning, with Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard someone who truly believes that as well.
Steven Gerrard has raved about Curtis Jones in the past
If there is any player who is ‘Mr Liverpool’ and every young player of a certain generation looked up to, it is Gerrard.
The former captain is one of the best players the club has ever had and he really had the ability to do it all, with the midfielder an idol to many around not just Liverpool, but around England.
Jones is just another player who looked up to him and he had the pleasure of calling him his coach at Under 18 level, with Gerrard once saying that he knew the now-24-year-old was destined to go to the top.
“He was a typical young kid coming through. Very technically gifted, very skilful, tight control. He could run, he still had a bit of growth to come,” Gerrard told The Times back in November 2024.
“We did have some really honest conversations. I said, ‘Listen, with the talent you have, if you don’t get to where we all think you can get to, you will have wasted it. If you can put everything else around that talent, the professionalism you need off the pitch, you can do very well’.
“I have just known all along that with the right guidance and support he can become that Scouse heartbeat of the team.
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“The kid was never going to fail technically, he was never going to fail from a physical point of view because all his numbers were always sky high. We knew he was going to get a little taller and stronger so the profile was there. It was always just, ‘Do you want this?’
“What he has achieved so far has come from him. He’s done it. “Curtis still has a lot to learn, a lot of evolving to do. I am really excited to see how Arne Slot can take him on to that next level. He is still young.”
Gerrard concluded by saying: “Rafa [Benitez] had to grab me to take me to another level, and the exciting thing for me looking in is that Arne seems the man who can really get Curtis to the next level. If he can get him there we will have a top, top international player on our hands.”
Curtis Jones may have to leave Liverpool to progress
As Gerrard highlighted, there is no doubting the quality Jones has and he is more than capable of being a rotational player under Arne Slot, but he deserves much more than this.
His minutes were fairly limited last season and they will only dwindle further after the arrival of Florian Wirtz, suggesting this could be his last chance to show his manager he would be in the starting XI.
Harvey Elliott is in a similar boat and he is thinking about moving on, albeit reluctantly, but Jones might follow suit if his fellow Englishman does depart and is successful.
Liverpool fans will not want either to leave but with Jones the only scouser left in the team, they will perhaps be more keen on him to stay than anyone else, but for the sake of his career, he might have to move on to live up to Gerrard’s expectations.
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