Liverpool youngster is among most talented players I’ve worked with – he has everything

It’s been a somewhat frustrating start to the season for Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones. The 22-year-old was a standout player for the Reds during the final two months of last season, helping Jurgen Klopp’s side recover enough from a poor campaign to finish fifth and qualify for the Europa League. Yet despite such showings, Jones always knew a midfield revamp was coming at Anfield.

Sure enough, while waving off Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Liverpool oversaw an £150m overhaul as they brought in Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch.

After such surgery, it would have been easy to write off Jones as a squad option once more. A quick glance at his total of four Premier League starts so far this season and you could be forgiven for even thinking that was the case.

Yet the Scouser’s limited game time is a combined result of injury and suspension. He came into the campaign with an ankle issue, which ruled him out for two games, before having to serve a three-game ban following a controversial red card at Tottenham Hotspur at the end of September.

Starting just twice since being shown his marching orders, a minor hamstring injury has since seen him miss the Reds’ last three games. But make no mistake, Jones has been missed and Klopp will have everything crossed that the 22-year-old recovers in time over the international break to be fit for Liverpool’s top-of-the-table trip to Man City on November 25.

A certain section of the Reds’ fanbase has arguably had it in for Jones since he broke into the first team, regularly bemoaning his inclusion in the Liverpool squad over the past three years as he battled recurring injuries.

Yet this calendar year he has finally been able to showcase his ability after being granted a consistent run in Klopp’s starting XI. And while injury has again recently struck, ensuring a stop-start start to the season, the midfielder is no longer subjected to the same impatience from critical onlookers.

Jones has been free to show what his manager and team-mates already knew, ensuring that no amount of expensive new talent would shunt him back down the pecking order.

And having been a star player for England Under-21s in the summer as they won the European Championships, his former young Lions boss, Lee Carsley, is not at all surprised at the impact one of the “most talented players” he’s worked is having at Anfield.

“Similar to Cole (Palmer), I’m not surprised one bit (by how he’s doing),” Carsley recently told reporters of the Liverpool midfielder. “Curtis would be up there with the most talented players I’ve worked with.

“He’s got everything that you need as a midfielder. He can run, he is very, very fast, he’s powerful, he can score, he can assist, he can defend, he can take the ball – all he needs is opportunity.

“The way he’s played when I’ve seen him play, he’s been outstanding. He just needed to stay fit.

“I know he’s struggled sometimes with that consistency of playing but to see him take that form that he showed in the summer, that responsibility, the understanding of the position, into playing for Liverpool is brilliant to see.”

Jones is now no longer eligible to play for England Under-21s, but it’s a different story for Harvey Elliott. The 20-year-old was a squad player for the young Lions when they won the Euros in the summer, but has made himself first-choice in Carsley’s midfield this season.

He even captained his country during the October international break, and, with Cole Palmer promoted to the senior England squad on Monday, is set to be the Under-21s’ most high-profile midfielder for upcoming European qualifiers against Serbia and Northern Ireland.

Like Jones, he has had to battle with new competition for places at Anfield this season, though has been limited to predominantly substitute action as a result. That is not stopping him from impressing for Klopp’s side though, as demonstrated in particular by his contributions leading to vital goals away at Wolves and Luton Town.

And Carsley is confident Elliott will only keep on improving, believing he is enjoying the rewards from just how hard he continues to work off the pitch.

“Harvey is another player you can see is infectious,” he said. “He loves football, it’s very difficult to get him off the training ground once we’re on it because he wants to practise and he wants to play.

“He’s been making a real impact when he comes on, especially in the Premier League. It was good to see him start the game on Thursday (against Toulouse) as well.

“A player that we have got a lot of faith in and we see him as a real high potential. Seeing the way that he’s developed has been very good, not only on the pitch but off the pitch.

“The setbacks he came back from, having such a tough injury, he’s shown that mentality to come back, and to come back so quickly from it, and carry on where he left off. It has been good to see.”

Elliott is not the only Liverpool player in the latest England Under-21s squad, with Carsley also calling up Tyler Morton, who is currently on loan at Hull City, and Jarell Quansah.

The latter made his international debut at this level last month, and Carsley is looking forward to handing Qunasah more minutes for England Under-21s.

“They are players we see as high potential,” he said of the called-up Liverpool trio. “They are three players who all deserve their places.

“It’s good to see, Jarell especially, playing and doing so well. He’s very mature. That’s something that stands out with him.

“He’s very level-headed. You get the feeling that, along with a lot of the other players, that whatever challenge you throw at them, they just handle and they just take in their stride.

“The support he’s obviously got behind him at Liverpool, you can sense that they rate him highly and when a player feels that, it generally transfers into the performances that you see. I thought it was a good example on Thursday night.

“The big thing for us is to get him some game time with us. He’s made his debut already but he, like a lot of the other players, will want to start for the Under-21s and he is going the right way about it.”