As players make their way back to training over the coming days, Jurgen Klopp could be about to establish a new pecking order at Liverpool.
Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai have so far arrived this summer, while at least one more new arrival is looking likely as part of Klopp’s rebuild. But while many fans might expect those new arrivals to instantly take up spots in the first-choice XI, those already at the club should not be written off or forgotten about.
The incomings will have a double benefit: not only will the quality and depth of the Liverpool squad improve, but there will also be that knock-on impact for existing stars. Standards will have to be raised as places are fought for.
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Curtis Jones came into the Liverpool team with around a quarter of last season to go — and, along with the change in formation, provided a boost that fell narrowly short of securing Champions League football from a dire starting position.
A player with no shortage of confidence in his own ability, Jones will be backing himself to get straight back into the swing of things this summer — in fact, he has continued his fine form by helping England to the U21 European Championship title, earning back-to-back player of the match awards in the semi-final and final to indicate he’s ready to kick on significantly next season.
After he signed a new contract in November of last year, Liverpool had already confirmed its faith in the 22-year-old. After getting over a series of unfortunate injury setbacks, he was able to prove why.
"It is not like they have said, 'Look, we're going to buy him, you might have to leave, you might have to do this or do that'," Jones told the ECHO in April when asked about the soon-to-be increased competition.
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"You might hear small things in the press, but they just make up things to keep themselves around! But I've not heard anything, so I am here to play. Of course I [back myself]. Of course. It doesn't matter if I leave. I think I can show I am good enough to come back but we'll see. I am not worried."
The biggest thing preventing Jones from kicking on previously has been injuries, but if he is over those issues — and the amount of football he played once he regained his place in the starting XI would suggest positive signs — then he can fulfill his exciting potential.
"I remember having a conversation with Jürgen talking about Curtis and he was saying he has little things to improve," Steven Gerrard recalled to The Anfield Wrap. "I said to Jürgen, ‘Stay with this kid, whatever you’re thinking, keep him and stay with him because he won’t let you down’."
While new players will come in this summer to supplement the Liverpool squad, Jones' new contract more than six months ago showed that he is ready to be as big a part of the future as those new names, just as Gerrard foresaw.
If he was born in Lisbon rather than Liverpool and played for Sporting or Benfica rather than at Anfield, his end-of-season form (and subsequent performances at the U21 European Championships) would be enough to generate a clamor for the Reds to sign him. Instead, Jones is already there and ready to form a significant part of the solutions that Klopp comes up with this summer.