Having missed the majority of Liverpool’s season so far through injury, Curtis Jones is enjoying being back out on the pitch and thrived in a more attacking position against Napoli on Tuesday.
After playing a full part in Liverpool’s summer preparations for 2022/23, a freak calf muscle injury kept the England under-21 midfielder sidelined for the first two months of the season.
Jones returned to full fitness towards the end of last month, starting in an unfamiliar deeper midfield role in the Reds’ defeat to Nottingham Forest, following Thiago‘s late withdrawal.
Having emerged as one of the most exciting players to come through the Liverpool academy in recent years, a series of frustrating injuries have hampered Jones’ progress.
He has also had to adapt to a more reserved midfield role to the one he was used to at academy level, with Jurgen Klopp often using Jones as more of a box-to-box midfielder.
However, with a number of the Reds’ attacking players currently sidelined through injury, the 21-year-old was given the opportunity to start on the left of Liverpool’s front three against Napoli, a position he was often deployed in at academy level.
He was heavily involved in a lot of the Reds’ good attacking play in the first half, and despite his admission that he will “play anywhere” to help the team, he did go on to admit that the left wing is a position that he “loves.”
“Any time I play I’m enjoying it. Of course, I was out for 10 weeks but now I’m back playing so happy days,” Jones told LFCTV after the game.
“I’ll play anywhere, I’m one of them. Say somebody had picked up a knock and I had to fill in at the back then I’d play there and I wouldn’t complain. Since my Academy days I’ve always been an attacking kid, I’ve always said that I like to score goals and I like to create and stuff.
“The role had changed a bit but today I was back out there on the left in a position that I love and that I’ve played a lot. It was good, it was a good game.”
In the second half, Darwin Nunez replaced Jones on the left side of Liverpool’s attack, with the Uruguayan likely to start ahead of the Scouser when the Reds face Tottenham on Sunday.
But against Napoli, Jones certainly did enough to prove to Klopp that he can be an option in a more offensive position.
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