Curtis Jones suffers pre-season injury but Liverpool replacement gives Arne Slot a glimmer of hope
Liverpool suffered a potential blow during their 1-0 win over Real Betis when Curtis Jones was forced off through injury.
The midfielder was substituted after 30 minutes and replaced by Trey Nyoni during the preseason clash in Pittsburgh on Friday night.
Dominik Szoboszlai scored the winning goal in Arne Slot's first outing, but the new leader of the reds admitted having concerns about Jones.
He said: “I think it's too early to say (how serious it is). Maybe he could have continued playing, but I think maybe you could see he wasn't 100 per cent.”
“In a friendly match, with so many days ahead of us on our tour, it was best to leave him out. Hopefully he will recover very quickly, but we have to wait and see.”
“We hope he recovers quickly so we can see him in the next matches.”
Slot added: “It's always a shame that I have to leave after 25 minutes, half an hour. And before that you could see that I wasn't completely free.”
“It was a shame because he had two really good weeks in training so I was hoping to see him in the game but unfortunately he had to go off.
“The good thing about that was that we brought in someone who impressed me during the 45 minutes to an hour he played afterward.
“That was the positive thing about Curtis coming out for Trey, but of course it's a shame for Curtis that he couldn't continue playing.”
Jones recently spoke of his delight at Slot's arrival, having been mostly a fringe player under Jurgen Klopp.
“It's incredible,” the 23-year-old said when asked about Slot.
2
“It's probably the happiest moment I've ever felt. As a style of play, it suits me. It's a clear plan. Arne is fully involved in training, he trains us a lot, he cares a lot about the finer details.
“He knows it's going to take a little bit of time because it's a big change. I came into the team as a young lad. I always had a way of playing, but I had to adapt and change. It wasn't anything I couldn't do.
“But now I'm more myself. I can have more contact with the ball. I can do more things on my own.”
Nyoni's impressive performance was a ray of hope for Slot during an eye-opening friendly in the United States.
The 17-year-old caught the manager's attention and impressed him. Liverpool Fans watching from home.
Nyoni made his senior debut in the 3-0 FA Cup win over Southampton earlier this year, becoming Liverpool's youngest player to feature in the competition.
The former Leicester academy star was promoted to the first-team training squad under Klopp last season after impressing in the Reds' youth setup.
