Curtis Jones, enjoy your Liverpool PROMOTION

Trent Alexander-Arnold is leaving Liverpool. It’s time for Curtis Jones to step up.

It’s now official: Trent Alexander-Arnold will leave Liverpool at the end of the season. His contract is up and he’ll take the opportunity to depart.

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Now, we don’t yet know where he’s off to. Not officially, anyway (it’s Real Madrid, even if no one has confirmed that yet).

Liverpool lose a prized asset here and someone who should have gone down as one of their all-time greats. But go through that list of greats and you’ll find a theme: none of them binned the Reds off to spend their best years elsewhere.

Alexander-Arnold is doing just that, sacrificing his place on the pantheon in the process. And arguably, that’s the most important thing about all of this.

Yes, Liverpool are losing an elite player but they’ve done that before. Alexander-Arnold will be replaced on the pitch, likely (hopefully) by Conor Bradley.

But as a club icon? That’s not so easy and it’s time for Curtis Jones to step up.

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Curtis Jones’s promotion

The impact of having a Scouser in the team is real. Just for one, it builds a nice connection with the fans that’s always appreciated: there’s a reason Alexander-Arnold’s song is what it is.

But there’s also an unparalleled connection with the academy that shouldn’t be understated. The youngsters look up to those who went through the levels as they dream of doing.

The kids themselves made that clear recently: they look up to Alexander-Arnold as he’s living their dream. They want to follow in his footsteps - but likely not to Real Madrid.

And so that position now falls on Curtis Jones. Now he’s the one who’s living the dream and showing each and every youngster that they can push forward, develop, and play for the first team.

It’s important for Liverpool to maintain that, too. You want the kids in the academy to see how possible it is to make it and to see what can happen if they push on and work hard.

Perhaps the likes of Jayden Danns can join Jones in that. But every club should have those references for the academy stars.

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That’s been Alexander-Arnold for the last eight years. Before him it was, of course, Steven Gerrard. Now Jones is the scouser in the team - and it’s a role we imagine he’ll relish.