Curtis Jones Has Captain Material In Him

I keep coming back to Curtis Jones and the same thought: he’s been judged on the wrong things. After the Everton derby last season, I found myself tipping him for a Jordan Henderson-style shift in fortunes, the sort where a player goes from being constantly debated to being quietly indispensable.

Not because he suddenly turns into a world-beater overnight, but because leadership at Liverpool has never just been about who’s got the cleanest highlights reel. It’s about who can be trusted when the game’s messy, when the crowd is anxious, and when you need someone to keep standards where they should be.

Leadership isn’t always loud, but you can hear it

The way Jones speaks after games tells you plenty. He sounds like someone who feels responsible, who actually cares how the team functions rather than how he looks in it. That matters. Plenty of players talk well when things are going their way. The leaders are the ones who talk like it’s on them either way.

And you see it in the work he puts in. The effort, the willingness to run, to recover, to do the jobs that don’t make the montage. Passion for Liverpool isn’t something you can coach into a player. You either have it or you don’t, and Jones has always had it.

The real issue has been fitness, not talent

If there’s a reason he hasn’t had a straight run of momentum, it’s been fitness. That’s the bit that has repeatedly stalled him just as he’s starting to look settled. And it’s also why conversations about him get so messy, because people don’t separate availability from ability.

Truth is, I don’t even bother discussing him with some Liverpool fans anymore. He gets so much grief, and once people have made their minds up you’re basically shouting into the wind. It’s mad, too, because you can’t shake the feeling that if he was Spanish, Dutch or French, the exact same performances would be described as “intelligent”, “tidy”, “mature”.

Not world class, but that’s not a crime

He’s not world class. Fine. Neither were Henderson or James Milner, not in the pure talent sense. But what they were, and what Jones can be, is the connective tissue in an elite side. The lad who keeps the tempo honest, who supports the press, who fills gaps, who makes the game easier for the players with the fireworks.

Every great Liverpool team has needed that type. The ones who knit the superstars together and make the whole thing function. If Jones stays fit and keeps building, vice-captain doesn’t feel like a daft shout at all. Captain one day? It sounds bold now, but it’s not impossible either.

Written by MK Scouser: 16 December 2025