Drop the Pressure: Curtis Jones Has Got It Locked Down

Curtis Jones may find starts hard to come by this season. What can he offer to Arne Slot's Liverpool?

A subscriber recently messaged me to ask if I was planning to write an article on Curtis Jones. Here it is. Feel free to chip in a suggestion of your own.

New full-backs? Check. Young striker with an elite picker of locks to supply him? Sure, sorted. Swedish boiler of Geordie blood? Well, let’s see.

Liverpool have made the two most expensive transfers in world football this summer to reinvigorate their attack. They may yet top those fees, plus they’ve retooled the outer quarters of their back four.

In Giovanni Leoni, the Reds have secured the most expensive under-19 defender to move in this window. While a senior centre-back feels a necessary addition, they have at least replaced Jarrell Quansah with another different young defender. Presumably one that Arne Slot is more willing to use too.

There have been no rumours regarding central midfield, though. Granted, the purchase of Florian Wirtz means Dominik Szoboszlai will spend most of his time in the two rather than the three of the 4-2-3-1 formation that Slot definitely doesn’t use (hiya, Chris Pajak). Or he’ll maybe even get reps at right-back, as demonstrated on Monday.

The Match, The Stat: Newcastle 2-3 Liverpool

Either way, Liverpool aren’t in desperate need of midfielders. Yet they may have too many for Curtis Jones to get many starts, injuries to Ryan Gravenberch or Alexis Mac Allister notwithstanding.

The academy graduate can be hard to categorise. Is the ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ cliché harsh criticism or actually a neat summary of his strengths in different areas?

The mini scouting reports for the last 365 days on FBRef tell this tale. On the midfield template he looks elite on the ball with little contribution off it. Those positions largely flip if you view him as an attacking midfielder.

He’s hard to judge with data as he doesn’t have a set position. Jones’ 27 starts in 2024/25 took him all over the field. You could find him in central midfield. Perhaps he was in the middle or on the left of the trio behind the front man. He might be at right-back or even playing as a false 10 at Manchester City.

FBRef don’t have a template to cover all of that, funnily enough. You can see on the above image that passing is Jones’ clearest strength, regardless. He completed all 53 that he attempted in the recent Community Shield, going five better with 58/58 at Southampton last season.

To truly assess passing ability, we need to dig deeper. The Statsbomb data makes a compelling case in Jones’ favour, even if we can also highlight his strength using more traditional metrics.