Curtis Jones needs to kick on at Liverpool and England Under-21 boss Lee Carsley has called on him to show more in the future.
Jones, 21, has come up through the Liverpool but hasn’t quite become a star like Trent Alexander-Arnold.
There have been moments of quality from Jones, including the stunning winner against Everton in the FA Cup back in January 2020.
Jones also impressed on the road at Brentford this past season but wasn’t able to nail down a key first-team role.
Jones only started 10 Premier League games and 18 in all competition, registering just one goal and three assists.
We all know that Jones has major quality in his locker but the honest truth is that Liverpool just haven’t seen enough of it.
Curtis Jones needs to kick on at Liverpool
Liverpool have incredibly high standards under Jurgen Klopp and being inconsistent may end up giving you a ticket out of Anfield.
Liverpool will likely spend on a new midfielder at some point in the next year and Jones is in danger of becoming lost in the shuffle.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s likely exit this summer means Jones will likely be kept on but he needs to kick on at Liverpool.
Other Liverpool academy graduates like Harry Wilson, Pedro Chirivella, Rhian Brewster and Ovie Ejaria have been moved on in recent times because they simply didn’t meet Liverpool’s standards.
Unless Jones finds a way to consistently make an impact in the Liverpool first team, he may well go the same way.
Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he thinks Jones has ‘incredible’ potential, but that can only get you so far; you also need to shine in the moment.
England Under-21 boss Lee Carsley has now had his say, telling the Daily Mail that Jones needs to stop playing ‘within himself’.
Carsley was a Premier League midfielder in his playing days and now wants to help Jones do the same.
Carsley talked up Jones as energetic, fast, powerful and skilful but urged Jones too who more on a consistent basis in order to hit the heights he is capable of at Liverpool.
“It’s important to me that Curtis doesn’t play within himself,” said Carsley. “He’s 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 goal, he’s got that quality. He needs to show it on a regular basis, consistently, for us. You’d like to have this conversation at the end of the camp where you’re swooning about him, saying “what a player”. I still think he’s building his reputation with the Under 21s in that respect.”
“He’s got energy, he’s fast, he’s got real power, he’s got a real natural balance on the ball, he can take it either side. He’s got the ability to go either way, off either side, which is a real skill to have and an attribute of a top player. I expect more from him. The players that are almost your middle of the road ones – when they do well, you’re like “that was brilliant, well done”. But the really talented ones, when they do well you actually want them to do better, you push them more than the players that are striving to get there. I’m not saying Curtis is there yet but he has such ability, as have three or four of them, that he can really kick on,” he added.
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