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Liverpool trio Curtis Jones, Cody Gakpo and Ryan Gravenberch celebrate winning the Premier League title(Image: PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

There was something wholly appropriate about the manner in which the season ended for Curtis Jones.

By the time he was replaced, the 24-year-old had shifted across to deputise for departed former Reds team-mate Jordan Henderson in central midfield.

Three days later, and when Jones was brought on from the bench he was effectively having to play in several roles with England all over the place and heading for a dreadful 3-1 friendly defeat to Senegal.



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Filling in the gaps, though, became the norm for Jones during a season in which he gained a reputation for being Mr Versatile under Arne Slot.

That was apparent during pre-season, when he featured in a number of midfield positions.

But when the campaign started an injury complaint sidelined him for several weeks and left him waiting until late September for a first competitive start under Slot in the League Cup win over West Ham United.

Jones, though, otherwise largely steered clear of injury and subsequently missed only two Premier League games - one of which was because of suspension after his red card after the final whistle of the 2-2 Goodison draw against Everton in February.

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He started games on the left of the double midfield pivot - from where he had his best game of the season in negating Cole Palmer while winning a penalty and scoring the winner in the 2-1 home triumph over Chelsea in October - as well as in the attacking midfield role.

And his versatility was such there were also starts on the left wing of the attack, as one of two false number nines - notably in the 2-0 win at Manchester City in February - and also at right-back, including the home derby win in April.

That there were no goals or assists from early February onwards will be a concern, but perhaps pointed to the period when Jones was being shifted around the team to plug gaps and give certain team-mates a breather.

Indeed, his value and availability was underlined by making 46 appearances in all competitions - easily the highest season tally of his career - of which 27 were as a starter.

Having edged ahead of Harvey Elliott in the pecking order to challenge Dominik Szoboszlai for the regular number 10 role, that competition will become even more fierce once Liverpool complete, as is expected, a club record deal for Bayer Leverkusen's Florian Wirtz.

But having long shown he is prepared to scrap for his first-team place, Jones has now demonstrated to Slot he can be the man for almost every position.

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Season rating: 7


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