Alan Shearer has given high praise to young Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones for his efforts in their win over Sheffield United.
This has really been something of a breakthrough season for the 20-year-old, who is valued at £15.3m on Transfermarkt, making 29 appearances so far in all competitions, helped of course by the catastrophic injury woes that Liverpool have had to deal with during this campaign giving him a lot more opportunities than he perhaps might have done otherwise.
But even then you do have to take your chances when they’re presented to you, and speaking on Match Of The Day 2 (38:55), Shearer singled out Jones for his effort in midfield and how well he played despite his young age:
“When you look at the experience in that team, particularly in the midfield with Thiago and Wijnaldum, it was the youngster that was the best player on the pitch for me Curtis Jones. 20 years of age, I thought he showed great maturity.
“Going forward he was sometimes the furthest man forward. It was a fantastic performance from him”
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TIF Thoughts on Alan Shearer’s comments about Curtis Jones.
Shearer’s words therefore go beyond Jones’ WhoScored rating on the day of 7.5, third-highest among all Liverpool players on the day.
But Shearer’s words of encouragement could serve Liverpool well heading into the future. Whilst there is some talk on whether or not Liverpool need to go through a total rebuild this summer to get them back closer to Manchester City near the top of the table, if they have someone in Jones who is ready built for the Premier League then that is one position that they don’t need to worry about if they do indeed decide to go down that route.
Which could save them a lot of money which could be spent in other important areas of the pitch.