Arne Slot has lavished Curtis Jones with praise following one of the assists of the season in Liverpool’s 4-0 win against Bayer Leverkusen.
Jones started on Tuesday night for the fifth time in the last seven games, being preferred to Dominik Szoboszlai, and he did his chances of retaining his place no harm.
The 23-year-old produced a sensational threaded pass to Luis Diaz, allowing the Colombian to open the scoring with a dinked finish.
It was an impressive all-round performance by Jones, who won four of his five duels – second-most of any Red – and speaking to reporters after the game, Slot hailed his midfielder’s growth and versatility.
“I think many of them [the players] have a lot of goals and assists. I still learn on a daily basis about every player, and Curtis is one of them,” Slot said.
“When I started off, the first game I played him as a six, which you didn’t see because it was behind closed doors [against Preston], but that wasn’t his best game – from us but from him as well.
“It’s one of his qualities that at this moment he can play in every position because he’s in a very good place at the moment. So comfortable on the ball, so you can trust him closer to your defence.
“But like we saw against Chelsea and I saw today as well, he is also able to penetrate inside the 18-yard box and give the last pass.
“He’s really made a step up after pre-season, and that’s why he gets his chances now because if players do well – and I have quite a lot of them at the moment – they will get their chances.”
Should Jones keep his place vs. Aston Villa?
Slot is fortunate to have four excellent midfield options at his disposal currently, with Wataru Endo also a good squad player and Harvey Elliott‘s injury return not far away.
In Jones, though, Liverpool have a player who seems to be growing as a footballer by the week, as his head coach alludes to.
He is combining quality in and out of possession, with his assist for Diaz a moment of genuine class that he used to produce so often during his youth team days.
Jones has taken time to win around the masses – there are some who will lazily never rate him, regardless of what he achieves on the pitch – but he now looks like a reliable top-level player.
Slot will likely decide between him and Szoboszlai for another big game against Aston Villa on Saturday night, but in this form, it’s hard to leave out the former.
Alexis Mac Allister has looked leggy since the last international break, so giving him a breather and starting Jones in a deep-lying role could be an option.
Either way, the young Scouser’s impact on a memorable night against Leverkusen means he should stay in the starting XI this weekend.
