Jürgen Klopp believes Curtis Jones has displayed such maturity in Liverpool’s midfield that the 19-year-old is no longer considered one of the club’s young players.
Jones has excelled in a regular starting role this season and delivered another eye-catching display in Wednesday’s dramatic win over Tottenham. The Toxteth-born midfielder has made 15 appearances this term and Klopp admits Jones’s age can be easily overlooked given how he has established himself.
The Liverpool manager said: “Some people will tell you that in Liverpool people grow up quickly – and I don’t mean the club, I mean the city. He is 19 until he enters the pitch. That is what they all have to be like. When you say someone is 19, they are allowed to make this or that mistake. Every player can make mistakes. That is no problem, we can sort that out as a team. But when we speak about the kids we constantly forget Curtis because we do not see him as a kid any more. But he is, so that’s good. He just has to keep working hard and keep his feet on the ground and then his future could be pretty bright.”
Roberto Firmino’s 90th-minute winner against Spurs was the Liverpool forward’s third goal in 20 appearances this season. Klopp revealed he has held talks with the Brazilian over his goals return, but says that figure is secondary to the job Firmino does for the team.
Klopp, who welcomed back Joël Matip to team training on Thursday, said: “He wants to score more and we had conversations about that. It’s not that I tell him he doesn’t have to score or he tells me he can’t score. You don’t score because you want to score more. All strikers in the world want to score more; even Mo Salah and Robert Lewandowski want to score more. That is completely normal.
“But in a moment when a player is only concerned about scoring then the problems could theoretically start. Theoretically because we don’t have that. That’s why it’s really important a player knows about the job he has to do in a game. They are different and in the end it’s important that the team scores. Thankfully most of the time that is often enough, although not always.”
Klopp, meanwhile, reacted with bewilderment to the Premier League’s refusal to allow five substitutes this season at the third time of asking. “Everyone knows my opinion on this case,” he said. “There were 10 clubs which voted against the thing which was not about competition or advantages, it was only about player welfare. Pretty much only them voted against it in Europe, and in the world if I’m right.”