England under-21s manager Lee Carsley has provided an update on Curtis Jones‘ fitness, with the midfielder missing Thursday’s 2-2 draw with Slovenia due to injury.
Carsley took over as U21s manager in July, with Jones included in each of his first two squads so far as he continues to make his mark for Liverpool.
The 20-year-old has already made six appearances for the U21s, while this term he has featured six times for the Reds, but he is yet to play under England’s new youth coach.
A COVID-19 outbreak led to the cancellation of last month’s clash with Romania, while Jones was ruled out of the following meeting with Kosovo due to suspension.
The midfielder has now missed the opening U21 Euro qualifier of the October break having picked up a groin injury, which also makes him a doubt for Monday’s meeting with Andorra.
Speaking ahead of the trip to Andorra la Vella, Carsley insisted he and his staff “won’t be taking any risks” with the fitness of Liverpool’s No. 17.
“We will wait to see how he reacts this morning, he will have some treatment again. We definitely won’t be taking any risks,” he said.
“We’ll assess Curtis and make that decision a bit later.”
The suggestion is, then, that Jones is unlikely to be involved against Andorra, and with less than a week to go until Liverpool’s return to action at Watford, it will be a concern for Jurgen Klopp.
Klopp has named Jones in his starting lineup for each of the last four games, with impressive displays against Norwich, Brentford, Porto and Man City seeing him score once and assist three times.
It remains to be seen if Thiago will be back fit for the clash at Vicarage Road, but Fabinho is already ruled out as he will not be back in time from Brazil’s World Cup qualifier against Uruguay.
Harvey Elliott is also sidelined, while if Trent Alexander-Arnold is still out, James Milner could also be unavailable in midfield as he will continue to deputise at right-back.
The worst-case scenario is that Liverpool would be without Jones,
Jones is not the only injury concern to emerge from the early days of the international break, with Diogo Jota yet to train with Portugal due to a muscle problem.
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