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With Curtis Jones only able to play half an hour before limping off in Liverpool’s 1-0 pre-season win over Real Betis, Arne Slot has provided an update on his fitness.
Jones joined Slot for pre-match media duties ahead of the friendly in Pittsburgh and was expected to play a key role as the Reds took on Betis.
But after an uncomfortable start to the game, the midfielder was withdrawn during a drinks break as the half-hour mark ticked by.
Youngster Trey Nyoni took Jones’ place and dazzled, but there are concerns over the fitness of Liverpool’s No. 17 – with Slot as yet unsure of the extent of his injury.
Asked if Jones’ substitution came as a precaution, he said: “I think that’s too early to tell, he maybe could have played on, but I think you could see that he was not 100 percent.
“Then in a friendly game, with so many days coming up in our tour as well, it’s best to take him off.
“Hopefully he can recover really fast, but we have to wait and see. But we hope he recovers really fast, so we can see him in the next few games.”
Slot continued: “It’s always a pity if he has to go out after half an hour, and before that you could see that he was not completely free.
“It was unfortunate, because he had two really good weeks during training sessions, so I looked forward to seeing him in the game.
“But unfortunately, he had to go out.
“The good thing about that was that we brought someone that impressed me in the 45 minutes to an hour he played afterwards, so yeah, that was the positive thing of Curtis going out, for Trey.
“But of course, for Curtis, it’s a pity that he couldn’t play on.”
17-year-old Trey Nyoni impresses
As Slot mentioned, the performance of Nyoni as Jones’ replacement was one of the key highlights of Liverpool’s night in Pittsburgh.
The 17-year-old, a youth signing from Leicester this time last year, had already made great strides under Jurgen Klopp and the club’s academy staff, but looks poised for more involvement this time around.
Slot was full of praise for the teenager, but also stressed that he needs time to grow physically and develop his game.
“I think he did really well today, but it was only an hour,” Slot assessed.
“He did well, he was one of the reasons why we scored the goal, because he turned really quickly and [played a] spot on pass between the lines, and he was also involved in the biggest chance of the second half.
“So he did well, but he just turned 17, his body has to grow – and we are really careful with him, so he doesn’t join every session, and sometimes he goes out a bit earlier.
“You can see his quality, but you can also see his body still needs some time to grow to play a Premier League level. But he showed some interesting things today.”
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