He has made 74 first-team appearances but has yet to secure a regular starting role, and his task is only getting harder.
Now is the time for Curtis Jones. If the 21-year-old wants to take the next step at Anfield, the feeling is that it may happen soon, but it may sound a bit strange we are talking about a player who has already finished in 75 senior appearances for Liverpool.
In the current heated debate surrounding Jurgen Klopp’s apparent need to reinforce his midfield, all eyes are on those already available to him.
Who will calm down the noise going forward? Who can build themselves permanently, both in the short and long term?
Jones is one of the ones who will be most under the spotlight. An unquestionable talent and a firmly-established member of the Reds’ first-team squad, the challenge now for the academy Graduate is clear: to get into the team and stay there.
Last season, in terms of both games started and minutes, played, he was Klopp’s fifth most-used midfielder. Only Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara, and Naby Keita featured more than Jones, who made 34 appearances and clocked up more than 1500 minutes across all competitions.
That is more in a season interrupted by illness and injury. Jones suffered a concussion on the eve of the campaign last August, missed the best part of two months with a freak eye injury sustained in training at the start of November, and then, when finally fit again, tested positive for Covid-19, ruling him out of two more games.
But it should also be distinguished that Jones kept himself largely away as the season reached its final stage.
He started only two of Liverpool’s last 15 matches in all competitions, with a further two substitute appearances, totaling 13 minutes, thrown into the bargain.
He was unused in Both the FA Cup and Champions League finals, having not even made the bench for the Carabao Cup win over Chelsea at Wembley back in February.
It was promising to see Jones score at Brentford, provide three assists against Porto in the Champions League, and put on an outstanding performance in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal. However, Jones needs to show consistency moving forward. Of performance first and foremost, and then, hopefully, of selection.
It’s a theme Klopp himself touched upon back in January when discussing the player’s progress.
“I love the boy, and I love the potential he has,” he told Goal. “But we have to now really make the next steps and make sure that he fulfills the potential he has on the pitch.
“He’s young, very young, but from what I have seen, his potential is just incredible. So we have to find a way to show that much more often.
“That is where we are in Curtis’ development.”
Klopp certainly rates Jones – “I’m one of his biggest fans,” he is on record as saying – but it was interesting to hear Lee Carsley, the England U21s coach, strike a similar tone earlier this month when discussing his development.
“It is important to me that Curtis does not play within himself,” Carsley said. He got to be the best player every day, every game.
“I think he can score more, I think he can assist more. When he gets in front of the goal, he got that quality. He needs to show it regularly consistently, for us.”
Jones’ gifts are Obvious. His touch, balance, and ability to receive and retain the ball under pressure are all of the highest levels, while Pep Lijnders, Klopp’s assistant coach, has described him as “a physical machine” who “gives the team risk” whenever, and wherever, he plays.
Some, perhaps, would question that last statement. Jones Certainly arrived into Liverpool’s first team as a risk-taker, a player of flicks and tricks and, if anything, too much self-confidence.
Although his physicality and tactical discipline have improved significantly, it is easy to wonder if he has lost something when it comes to consistently impacting games in the final third.
Last season, for example, his only goal was that Brentford strike, while his sole Premier League assist was for Mohamed Salah against Manchester City in October – and with respect, it was hardly put on a plate for the Egyptian, was it?
Klopp remembers seeing Jones for the first time in training at the age of 15 as part of the Legends’ Talent Group in Melwood.
“I looked out of my office and it was ‘Ooof, wow!’” he recalled. “The next question was ‘how old is he?’ – he was already clearly a massive talent.
Talent needs to work and learn to play. But sometimes they get a push, and Curtis thinks he’s that guy, he’s doing it every day.
An ambitious loan offer from Leeds was rejected last August, and reports of a £ 15 million ($ 18 million) bid from Aston Villa were similarly given a short shift, So Liverpool has no intention of releasing Jones soon.
Their faith in him is one reason they are ready to take their time before signing a big-money midfielder, as well as Harvey Elliott, another young man hoping to establish himself as a regular starter this season.
If one, or both, of those two, were to take the next step soon, the situation may suddenly look very different.
It’s been more than two and a half years since Jones made his professional debut, and after announcing himself on the big stage with a stunning winning goal against Everton at Anfield in the FA Cup.
Now he must take the biggest step but since then he has taken the biggest step.
The defining season of the young scouts’ career could be the 2022-23 campaign.
