Sport
Jones could thrive for England after becoming a key figure for Slot
Arne Slot wanted Martin Zubimendi to be fulcrum of his new-look Liverpool midfield. The Anfield club targeted the Real Sociedad man as the rhythm builder many believed Slot needed to make his possession-orientated approach work on Merseyside. Zubimendi, of course, stayed put, but Liverpool have moved forward.
10 games into the 2024/25 campaign, Liverpool are now favourites to win the Premier League title. Slot’s team have won eight of the 10 games they have played and are five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table. As it turned out, Liverpool didn’t need Zubimendi to make things work in central midfield.
This is in no small part due to the role Curtis Jones is playing. While Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister have been deployed as a deep-lying pair to give Liverpool control in the middle of the pitch, Jones is the one who has been given freedom to open up space in the attacking third. He is getting better and better.
Jones can do everything. He has the technical ability to play a part in possession play. He is exceptional at carrying the ball through the opposition press and has a good understanding with the likes of Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez ahead of him in the forward line. Jones is increasingly Liverpool’s connective tissue.
“When he has the ball he is never afraid to do something special with it,” said Slot when asked about Jones and his recent performances for Liverpool. “Sometimes that has led to a situation where, in my opinion, he touches the ball too much as he’s a bit over-confident. But confidence is an important tool.
“He combines this at the moment with an incredibly hard work rate and we can trust him in defence. To have a good performance once in a while is not a big accomplishment. The best players in the world show up every three days and if he wants to continue progressing that’s what he has to show now: every three days be the player he has been for us for the last few weeks.”
Liverpool are midway through a run of fixtures that is testing their title credentials. Slot’s team have come through games against Chelsea, RB Leipzig, Arsenal, Brighton (twice), Bayer Leverkusen and Aston Villa with Arsenal the only side they have dropped points to. Liverpool’s title challenge is coming together in front of our eyes.
Slot has quickly got to grips with what Jurgen Klopp left him at the end of last season. The Dutchman is getting more out of players like Salah, Diaz and Gravenberch, but Jones is quickly becoming the biggest individual success story at Anfield this term. As impressive as he has been, few have grasped just how good the 23-year-old is – and how much better he can still get.
England could make good use of Jones. The midfielder has been called up to Lee Carsley’s final England squad as interim manager for the Nations League fixtures against Greece and the Republic of Ireland, and Thomas Tuchel will surely have a place for Jones in his plans for The Three Lions’ future.
Jones could be exactly what England need to add cohesion to the midfield unit. The 2026 World Cup is only a year-and-a-half away and so Tuchel will have no time to waste in preparing The Three Lions for the next major tournament when he takes over in the new year. He should look at how Jones has improved Liverpool to envisage how he could do the same for England.
