Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones has revealed details of a text message he received from his former manager Jurgen Klopp after racking up 100 Premier League appearances for his boyhood club.
The academy graduate brought his century of outings to a 3-1 win over Leicester City on Boxing Day, scoring the one-goal milestone. Jones has been in fine form this season, thriving in the more controlled version of football introduced by Arne Slot embracing newfound fatherhood.
After scoring the tenth league goal of his prolific Liverpool career, Jones revealed that the manager who gave him Premier League the debutant was the first to offer his best wishes after the match. “I went in then and normally I texted the family and I saw a message from Klopp saying, 'Congratulations on 100 games and here's to 500,'” the 23-year-old midfielder told the BBC. Match of the day.
“I was like, 'What is that about?' I just checked then and I'm proud that he created the team we have now, and Arne Slot has carried it on.
|
Statistics for the first 100 PL appearances |
Curtis Jones |
Steven Gerrard |
|---|---|---|
|
The minutes |
5098 |
7132 |
|
goals |
10 |
11 |
|
assists |
7 |
11 |
Jones boasts seven Premier League assists to go along with his double-figure goal tally – closing in on the figures put up by Liverpool's greatest academy graduate, Steven Gerrard, during his first appearances in league.
The late England international caused a whisper of controversy during pre-season when he found that Slot's possession-based approach it was “more me” than Klopp's style, which Jones described as “a bit too direct, up and down, up and down”.
Childhood Liverpool The fan was quick to clarify his comments and Klopp clearly bears his former player no ill will. Even if Jones reaches the optimistic figure of 500 Premier League appearances set by his former German manager, he would still be behind Gerrard (504) and Jamie Carragher (508) on the club's list of record appearance makers. However, unlike that legendary duoJones has won the Premier League title.