Curtis Jones became Liverpool’s youngest ever captain last week, leading out a young Reds side against Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup fourth-round replay.
The Reds’ U23 manager, Neil Critchley, was in charge for the fixture in the absence of Jurgen Klopp, who watched on from home, as the youngsters squeezed through to the fifth round thanks to a calamitous own goal from Shrewsbury defender Ro-Shaun Williams.
Curtis Jones spearheaded the Reds attack, producing another excellent display to excite the Reds faithful. It was the 19-year-old’s eighth appearance of the season, and the young Scouser did his chances of more first-team football no harm.
The New Scouse Sensation: Curtis Jones
One of Many Starlets
Following on from goals against Merseyside rivals Everton and Shrewsbury in the 2-2 draw a fortnight ago, Jones once again showed his skills and ability at Anfield, giving many Liverpool fans hope that he could go on and achieve similar success to that of fellow Liverpudlian Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The Reds boast a number of young starlets amongst their ranks, including the likes of Harvey Elliott, Ki-Jana Hoever and Neco Williams. Jones, however, has featured the most, and has even made his Premier League debut, coming off the bench in a 3-0 win over Bournemouth back in December.
Jurgen Klopp has also been quick to praise the progress of the youngster, and has tipped Jones to make his mark on the first team in the not so distant future.
“Let me speak about Curtis. Unbelievable player, Scouser, very confident, can’t wait to play in the first team. Rightly so. He is in a very good way, I’ve known him for three-and-a-half years.
“He has made big steps, he will be a Liverpool player if nothing strange happens 100%.”
Local Lad
Growing up in Toxteth, Jones joined his boyhood club at the age of nine, going on to sign his first professional contract in February 2018. He made his first-team debut in an FA Cup third-round tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Fast forward to a year later, Jones has now established himself as ‘the future of Liverpool’ and many Reds supporters believe that he possesses all the tools to push on with his career under the guidance of Klopp.
Time will only tell if Jones goes on to fulfil his potential, but one thing is definitely for sure: Liverpool fans would love to have not one but two local lads in their team, and it may not be long before we see both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones lining up regularly together in front of the Kop.
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