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.

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.

A look at the business end of the field can tell us plenty. Slot’s Reds were far more patient than the side he inherited from Jürgen Klopp, despite using the same players. This was reflected in their passing accuracy within the final third; it was a full percentage point above the best mark Liverpool posted in any of the preceding nine seasons, at 83.8. Nobody was more integral to that than Jones when he played.

He is able to post such impressive figures as he is so adept at retaining possession when being pressed by an opponent. Among the 133 players who received the ball at least 25 times under pressure in the final third last season, only nine had a higher retention percentage than Jones (88).

This was in line with his success rate across the whole field. While there isn’t much correlation between maintaining possession in the final third and the rest of the pitch when pressured, the 24-year-old was among the Premier League’s most balanced performers across the board last season.

Maybe Kyle Walker-Peters can save West Ham this season?

An accusation which has followed Jones throughout his career is that he can be cumbersome in possession, ‘chewing the ball’ to slow moves down. Watching Liverpool’s unneccessarily gung ho football when leading against Bournemouth or their inability to play 10-man Newcastle out of a game, they need more of this ‘problem’ if anything.

With better ball retention in advanced areas last season, the Reds didn’t need to recover it as often. Nor did they press with quite the same intensity as they had under Klopp. Nonetheless, with 0.8 final third regains per 90 minutes, Jones joint-led the squad alongside Luis Díaz in 2024/25. It’s not a rate that would’ve topped the standings under the previous manager, which speaks again to evolution of style as much as anything.

Interestingly, the number 17’s rate has been consistent for all seasons in which he played enough minutes to make the cut on FotMob. No matter the level at which the Reds are performing or who’s in charge, Jones will deliver 0.8 regains in the attacking third.

Something else which shouldn’t be underestimated is the potency of his relationship with Mohamed Salah. Nobody with at least as much shared playing time has assisted him as frequently (per 90), with Darwin Núñez better in a smaller sample. The Egyptian put on record that he loved playing with the now ex-Liverpool number nine, so maybe Jones will get a similar accolade in future.

That’s if he gets ample opportunity to feature with Salah this season, that is. Jones’ key strengths should solve some issues with which the new-look Liverpool have suffered in 2025/26 in the long term though. And, hey, if he offers nothing else, here’s some trivia which proves why Jones should be in the team.

Perhaps the ball retention is more important, come to think of it. It’s up to you, Arne.