Liverpool star confesses that he has struggled with living up to expectations that come with first-team football.
Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones has opened up about the jarring contrast between being a talent in the academy and his current reality as a first-team player for the Reds.
The 22-year-old, who is eligible to represent the Super Eagles through his Nigerian grandparents, made the step up to the Liverpool first team in the 2020/21 season, and although he has played regularly, racking up 104 appearances since making his debut, he has yet to hit the heights promised by his talent, nor is he necessarily on such a trajectory.
What Curtis Jones said
Curtis explained that he was a prodigy; hence, he rose through the ranks at the academy at a remarkable speed. However, he feels like he hit a ceiling upon making it to the Liverpool first team and has struggled to live up to the high demands.
"As an academy kid, I was always a kid who jumped up the age groups," he said, per GOAL.
Then I came into the first team and I kind of felt like I hit a wall, and I couldn't really take the next step. So it was more just going over my game and seeing where the improvements were. I've always been a lad who just wanted to go and score goals and pick up the ball and run, you know. But it was at the point where then I learned, 'OK, there's more the gaffer and staff want.
"Now the fans are all saying about how I go and press. I've never been a kid who thought about being the first one to go and press or to try to run the most, so I've added that in my game. I'm trying to work on just the overall package. I've still got a lot of things to learn, but I'm getting there."
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