The former Liverpool defender believes that the Reds may need to make a signing in the summer to bolster the position.
Liverpool legend Steve Nicol has suggested that the club need an upgrade on Curtis Jones.
The midfielder has thrust himself into the Reds’ starting line-up in recent months. Arne Slot’s side are 12 matches unbeaten, with Jones featuring from the outset in nine of the past 10 games.
He’s enjoying his best run in Liverpool’s team since breaking into the first team, having made 206 appearances for his boyhood club. Last season, head coach Arne Slot preferred the trio of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai as the Reds won the Premier League title.
Mac Allister’s form has dipped markedly this campaign, though, while Ryan Gravenberch has also not hit the heights that he displayed in 2024-25. Liverpool are sitting fourth in the Premier League table, having been held to a 1-1 draw against Burnley last weekend.
Speaking on ESPN, Nicol reckons that Liverpool will need to sign a new midfielder in the upcoming summer transfer window - and they must be better than Jones.
“I think if they brought a real midfielder in as well, I don’t think Curtis Jones is a starter in Liverpool’s best XI,” said Nicol. “I don’t have anybody at the top of my head but Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Gravenberch, no question were fantastic last year, it hasn’t quite worked this year for whatever reason. I think they need somebody who’s going to really shove one of them out to get them back to where they were and I don’t think Curtis Jones does that.”
Speaking on Jones’ recent impact, Liverpool boss Slot said: “I think that's always one of his main qualities, that he always wants to have the ball no matter what the situation is. That is 99 out of 100 times very positive. Sometimes it is also smarter to maybe stay away from the ball or not bring yourself in a difficult situation. But even if it's a really difficult situation, he had one in the corner [against Wolves], he was able to bring himself out of the situation and play the ball to Ryan [Gravenberch]. I think the first and most positive thing for him is that he's able to stay fit for four or five games in a row now and he's played indeed 90 minutes every single time.
“That might have to do a bit with his performance but if you look at our bench you didn't see any player that is a midfielder that has played more than 10 minutes in the Premier League so far. That's why I'm so pleased with our current results, because if we would've dropped points people would probably talk about the fact of how many players we miss. But we don't drop points and that's why no-one is talking about the players we miss. Maybe because they only talk about how much we spend!”
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