Virgil van Dijk has praised the "great mentality" of Curtis Jones and urged the Liverpool midfielder to make his recent impressive performances the norm.
Jones has grasped with both hands his first-team opportunity in recent weeks having started the season behind fellow youngster Harvey Elliott in the midfield pecking order.
The 20-year-old scored in the 3-3 draw at Brentford and had a hand in all five goals of the Champions League romp at Porto before arguably being Liverpool's best midfielder during their second-half revival against Manchester City at the weekend.
And Van Dijk, when asked how impressed he has been with Jones this campaign, said: "A lot.
"Unfortunately, Harvey got injured like everyone knows, of course, and was doing so well.
"It was difficult probably for Curtis to see that a little bit because obviously he wanted to play, but saw Harvey doing so well. Now he had to take his chance.
"At the moment, I think if you look at our midfield, Naby is still doing very well, Oxlade is doing very well, so it's not easy to be out there.
"Obviously in the last couple of games he's shown that he has the quality to be there and is doing well."
Van Dijk, speaking to liverpoolfc.com, added: "He's still young, he's still learning, he has a great mentality. He has to keep that going. It's only the start for him and he has to keep showing it.
"The most difficult part of being a football player is being consistent, so that's going to be a big challenge for him. But so far, so good."
