Rangers were 'desperate' to sign Liverpool star as Andrea Pirlo comparison made
Curtis Jones is hoping to be a regular for Liverpool in the 2024-25 season.
Gary McAllister has revealed how Rangers tried to sign Curtis Jones when he was emerging through the ranks at Liverpool.
The midfielder is now a fully-fledged first-team performer having come from the Reds’ academy ranks. Jones enjoyed his best-ever season in 2023-24 as he scored five goals in 36 appearances - with 24 of those starts.
Now he heads into the upcoming campaign under Arne Slot hoping to be a regular in Liverpool’s engine room. Having been an attack-minded midfielder earlier in his career, Jones has operated in a deeper role during the pre-season period and scored in a 3-0 victory over Manchester United in the USA.
It remains intriguing which role he will play for the Reds as he competes with Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Harvey Elliott, Wataru Endo, Ryan Gravenberch and Stefan Bajcetic for a berth in the line-up, while the club are trying to sign a new No.6.
Speaking after the United win, McAllister believes there is a debate around Jones’ best position - after declaring then-Ibrox manager Steven Gerrard tried to take him to Scottish giants Rangers several years ago after working together when the Kop icon was Liverpool under-18s coach.
Ex-Anfield midfielder McAllister, who was a coach at Rangers, told LFCTV: “We did our best to try to get him up the road. Obviously, Steven had worked with him and all the guys at Rangers were desperate to get him but he was unavailable.
“The debate is whether he is a No.6, No.6 or No.10. I think if he can show he's got the ability to sit in front of the centre-halves, that's good. If you can run forward and get yourself in the box and score goals, that's good. Players as a 10 when you're getting into little pockets on the half-turn, which I think he did most of his younger career.”
Former Reds winger John Barnes added: “Most of his career he was an eight. He was more of an attacking player but, of course, now because he wanted to get on the ball. But the six... more like a [Andrea] Pirlo was a six but he’s not a defensive player and neither is he. But he's good in possession, comfortable but as we saw, he can drive forward and score goals.”