Jones: I feel like I have earned the trust of the manager

Curtis Jones believes that he is a player that can be trusted in any role that he is asked to play.

It has been a challenging road at times for the academy graduate since making his first team debut against Wolves in the third round of the FA Cup in January 2019.

Injuries have halted his development and in some cases having occurred in the most unlucky of fashion such as the eye injury he picked up in training in 2021 and then a lingering tibia stress reaction injury which greatly affected the midfielder in the first half of the 2022/3 season.

With Liverpool’s midfield undergoing a much needed makeover in the summer and despite Jones only being in his early 20s, felt it was time that he took it on himself to become a leader in the middle of the park as he told the We are Liverpool podcast (per the Official Site).

“I feel (the added responsibility) and I’m trying to sound like it as well!

“There has been a huge change in the team and I’m one of the ones who has been here – it’s mad to say, I’m only 22 – but I’ve been here [since] 17. There’s lads who are coming in now and it’s their first time around the team, so I’m like an experienced one who has been around the whole of the thing for a long time.

Jones believes that has led to Jurgen Klopp giving him more trust in the roles he is being asked to play and understanding the player he has become.

“Even though I’m young I do feel like I’m one of the experienced ones and know how the manager and staff like [us] to go and play.

“He’s (Klopp) spoken about it a lot the way I’m the first one to go and press and things like that. Now, I was a kid who came in and pressing and defending were never a thing for me! ‘No, I don’t need that part of the game.

“Now that he’s picking up on it loads and he’s spoken about it, just goes to show how much that I’ve actually changed.”

And it is that level of responsibility and respect which every player thrives upon and hopefully it will take Jones to a whole new level.

“I feel I’m at a point now where he [Klopp] understands, ‘OK, we can bring him on if the team is getting beat because we know he can pop up with a goal or he can create something, or he can start in a big game because we know what we’ll get from him is going to be hard work, he will go and press, he won’t hide if the other team is on top, he will want the ball still, he’s not scared.’

“So, I feel like I’ve gained his trust. But I’ve still got a long way to go.

“I’m on 100 games but I feel it’s just the beginning and I want to just carry on and hold the form and keep it going.”