Liverpool’s Gini Wijnaldum replacement showing traits of Cesc Fabregas

Blood Red: Curtis Jones provides Jurgen Klopp with headache when Oxlade-Chamberlain returns

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Liverpool might not seem like they are making the right call with Gini Wijnaldum, but Michael Edwards and Co’s recent track record suggests that the Reds will make the correct decision.

As it stands, Wijnaldum will leave Liverpool on a free transfer at the end of the season having spent five seasons at the club, with the Reds and the Dutchman not having come close to an agreement over an extension yet.

In Curtis Jones, though, Liverpool have a player who is becoming more and more rounded with every game he plays, becoming more and more like a player that is perfect for Jurgen Klopp’s midfield.

On the Liverpool.com Podcast, Dan Morgan outlined: “We are so used to expecting a lung-busting, dynamic, box-to-box, tackling machine who runs himself into the ground.

“But Jones is cultured in the sense that he is so European in the way that he decides where he engages on the pitch and where he says ‘I’ve made this space available and I don’t have to run back and forth to show you how good a player I am’.

“Roberto Firmino is quietly being a really big beneficiary of Jones running the side so that is a massive compliment – if you are being compared in level of understanding to Firmino, you are not doing much wrong.”

Ollie Connelly added: “You are talking football genius levels at that point – and I know that sounds hyperbolic – but just watch the movement off the ball.

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“The reference point I would use is Cesc Fabregas. Jones has a taller and probably leaner Fabregas vibe to him.

“That innate understanding of where to be and the authority in his game, as well as the understanding from everyone else that he is on their level and you don’t need to worry about him is what is so unusual.”

“I get the Fabregas comparison because it’s sort of a ‘head on a pivot’ type of knowing where everyone is. Liverpool have done really well in getting the raw nature of his game out of him so quickly,” Morgan concluded.

“Before he was constantly looking for a shot when at times you were thinking ‘you need to lay it off’ but they have him comfortable in his own skin.”

Jones certainly has made a huge impression at Liverpool so far this season, making himself so much of an option that now players like Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain return, there is a big selection decision to be made.

Jones was handed a rest against Crystal Palace, emerging only from the bench.

But at the moment, with the way that Jones is helping Liverpool run matches from midfield, creating and dictating like a player a decade older and more experienced, he deserves to remain in the side for the majority of fixtures.

Wijnaldum’s likely departure at the end of the current season is understandably a concern for many, but in Jones, Liverpool have a player who there can be no doubt is ready to step up once again.