Steven Gerrard will have been watching Liverpool’s victory over his former teammate somewhere in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday night.
We know because the club’s legendary captain has admitted he often schedules his Al Ettifaq training sessions around Liverpool matches so he can keep track of Arne Slot’s reds.
This game against Bayer Leverkusen will have been of special interest to Gerrard anyway as it saw the return of his old midfielder partner, Xabi Alonso, coming back to his old hunting ground at Anfield.
And on the night when the game was supposed to be all about Alonso, it’s ironic that Slot instead may have finally discovered Liverpool’s long-term heir to Gerrard’s throne.
Why Curtis Jones proved against Bayer Leverkusen he can Liverpool’s new Gerrard
Jones has always been compared to Gerrard ever since he emerged as a goal-scoring midfielder in the academy.
At U18 level, he even got to work under the former Liverpool captain for a season with Gerrard stepping into his first head coach role at the club’s academy.
In that time Gerrard honed Jones’ game and helped him reach another level.
But while Jones has always been talented, his rise to the first team and now his rise to being a first team star has been far from straightforward.
He’s had to fight his way in and it’s only now that 23 years old that we are starting to see his best years in a Liverpool shirt.
By that point, Gerrard was already emerging as one of England’s best midfielders. Jones is on track to do the same.
But for now, the focus is on Liverpool and his recent performances in the team.
The thing that typified Gerrard during his time as the club’s iconic figure was his ability to make the difference in games. Whether that was through a goal or an assist – he was able to lead by example.
Jones is slowly becoming that figure for Liverpool.
Take the last few weeks as an example.
He scored a winning goal against Chelsea in the Premier League.
He then went onto provide the winning assist for Liverpool against Brighton last weekend to help the Reds climb to the top of the Premier League.
And now in the game against Bayer Leverkusen it was Jones who finally helped to unlock Alonso’s side with a sublime pass to Luis Diaz to send him through one vs one against the goalkeeper.
All of these moments are making Jones an indispensable part of Slot’s team. If anything during the past few weeks he has been Liverpool’s star presence in the team.
Once again, there is a scouse midfielder pulling the strings and making the difference. So many ‘new’ Gerrards have come and gone at Liverpool.
But Jones has shown in the last few weeks he is the real deal.
He can finally become the Gerrard successor Kopites have been praying for ever since Gerrard left Anfield for pastures new almost a decade ago now.
