Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United reportedly wanted to sign Curtis Jones in the summer transfer window, and now Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has suggested that it was never going to happen.
Leeds United interest
Goal reported in September that Leeds sporting director Victor Orta contacted Liverpool about Jones.
Orta wanted to sign the 20-year-old English midfielder for Leeds on a loan deal.
However, Liverpool turned Leeds down, according to the report.
Jurgen Klopp verdict
Liverpool manager Klopp has now said that he never wanted to send Jones out on loan.
Klopp told Sky Sports about Jones: “People have asked me a hundred times, ‘Can he go on loan? What about going there to get more match practice?’ No, let him be here.
“That’s the good thing about being really committed to the club as a young boy. He will maybe not have 30, 40 games a season at 18 or 19 but he can still learn so much.
“I didn’t want to let him go to play maybe 30 games in League One. I wanted him here so that he learns our football. And that’s what he did.”
Liverpool stay sensible
Jones is one of the best young midfielders in the Premier League, and it was always unlikely that Liverpool would send him out on loan this summer, especially with Georginio Wijnaldum leaving for Paris Saint-Germain.
The 20-year-old is a very good central midfielder who can drive the team forward and is also capable of scoring long-range goals.
Now, Leeds would have been a better and more competent team with Jones in it, but as Klopp says, there was no point in Liverpool sending the midfielder out on loan.
After all, staying at Liverpool means that Klopp will get to work with Jones on a daily basis.
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