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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Sean Bradbury & Paul Gorst & Matt Addison

Curtis Jones value soars again ahead of Liverpool's RB Leipzig Champions League tie

It won't do much to stop the pain and frustration of his team dropping out of the Premier League title race, but the 2020/21 season just keeps on getting better for Liverpool starlet Curtis Jones.

Ahead of a Champions League last-16 clash with RB Leipzig, in which Jones is almost certain to start, his stock has risen yet further in recent matches.

Had you asked most people at the start of the season whether or not he would be starting a game of that magnitude, and few would dared have said 'yes'.

Injuries have, of course, played their part in that being the case, but so too Jones' form - and what has happened to Liverpool when the 20-year-old has not been on the pitch.

Jurgen Klopp had not lost three consecutive Premier League matches before at Liverpool, with the Reds not having done so since 2014, until this weekend.

James Maddison, Jamie Vardy and then Harvey Barnes all struck inside seven minutes to update that record, with all three goals coming in a spell that started just three minutes after Jones had been taken off the pitch and replaced by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Six days earlier, as Liverpool were torn apart by Manchester City in a similar spell of a few minutes costing them dearly - a slightly longer 10 on that occasion - Jones was also off the pitch.

Five minutes before Ilkay Gundogan, Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden struck for Pep Guardiola's men, Jones had been substituted, replaced in that game by James Milner.

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A coincidence? Possibly. Alisson Becker might well have made his two catastrophic errors at Anfield even had Jones been on the pitch.

Equally, the misunderstanding between the Brazilian and Ozan Kabak at the King Power could also have happened with Jones present.

But it will do nothing against Jones' reputation that the crimes took place when he had already left the scene.

"He has been excellent and for me, he is ahead of Oxlade-Chamberlain now in the pecking order," said Paul Gorst on the Blood Red podcast.

"I know Oxlade-Chamberlain has had his injury problems but Jones is ahead of him now.

"At a time when Milner has gone off injured and midfield options are becoming increasingly thin on the ground, he is looking like he will be starting in a Champions League knockout game.

"He has had a great season from an individual perspective."

"He has been one of the stories of the season with his growth and development," added Sean Bradbury.

"You hope that we maybe see more of him in this home straight and he can have a telling impact.

"Milner, especially, over the last couple of games is a really interesting comparison.

"Against Man City, Jones was popping up on both sides of the midfield with Gini Wijnaldum behind him and he absolutely did not look out of place against the best team in the league currently and one of the best midfields in the league.

"The rapid progress is the most impressive thing and the tactical awareness that you can see is one that merits stressing.

"He has come from an environment where largely, playing in the youth teams, he is a big fish in a small pond and he was more of a ‘give me the ball and I’ll go and do something’ player.

"He was playing in a similar structure to a certain extent but not in as rigid and disciplined a way as he is having to do so now in Liverpool’s first-team midfield.

"The way he has carried himself this season has been really impressive and we will definitely see him on Tuesday.

"His status has grown to an extent where he is one of the first names on the teamsheet at times."

That will be underlined most when Jones takes to the field against Leipzig on Tuesday night.

Whether it be as a substitute, or more likely from the start, Jones will be one of those tasked with winning a match in a competition that could yet save Liverpool's season.

With a combined 17 minutes of capitulations having come in the last two Liverpool games spoiling what had otherwise been a decent pair of performances, the Reds cannot afford to let that happen again.

Having Jones on the pitch, it seems, could prove the answer as the Toxteth-born midfielder takes his next step.

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