How Iraola’s Arrival Pulled Curtis Jones Back From The Exit

A few weeks ago, we’d have told you Curtis Jones was as good as gone. The mood around his situation felt settled, almost resigned. Now, with a new manager in the building and a very different tone coming out of the club, that story looks a lot less finished than it did at the start of the summer.

These situations rarely turn on one single moment, they turn on a slow accumulation of small signals, a public comment here, a training ground conversation there, and eventually the player himself starts to reconsider what once felt inevitable. That’s roughly where we think this one sits right now, somewhere between a genuine change of heart and a story that could still swing back the other way before pre season is done.

From Exit Door To Open Question

Jones enters the final year of his contract with Inter Milan already knocking, twice, and both approaches turned down by the club. On paper that’s exactly the kind of situation that usually ends one way. Yet the picture inside Anfield appears to have shifted meaningfully since Andoni Iraola took charge.

According to David Lynch on Redmen TV, the change of manager appears to have genuinely altered Jones’ own thinking, to the point where a departure that once looked close to certain is now, in Lynch’s words, very much back up for debate.

What Changed The Mood

Iraola has been public and warm in his praise of Jones since arriving, and that shouldn’t be underestimated. New coaches often reassess players who’d fallen slightly out of favour under the previous regime, and Jones looks like one of the clearest early examples of that happening at Liverpool. Lynch made the point that Iraola’s public comments suggest a genuine attempt to sell the player on a role, rather than simply going through the motions before a sale.

There’s also a wider squad management angle here. Iraola has inherited a group that’s already lost some big personalities, and with the World Cup break adding uncertainty around other midfielders including Alexis Mac Allister, keeping hold of a versatile, homegrown option like Jones becomes more valuable rather than less.

The Case For Keeping Him

We understand why some fans have grown frustrated with Jones’ stop start involvement over the last two seasons. At 25, he’s at the stage of his career where regular football stops being a nice to have and becomes essential. But there’s a genuine football case for persevering. He can carry the ball through midfield, retain possession under pressure, and cover more than one central role, which is exactly the kind of versatility a manager rebuilding a squad tends to value highly.

Pre season gives Iraola a real opportunity to define what that role actually looks like in practice, rather than in vague public statements. If Jones is convinced he has a genuine pathway to starts and responsibility, we could be looking at a contract breakthrough rather than another exit saga. If that conversation doesn’t land, though, we shouldn’t expect interest from elsewhere to fade.

It’s also worth remembering what Jones represents beyond the raw output. He came through the academy at a time when homegrown talent making the breakthrough at Liverpool felt increasingly rare, and he’s played a part in some of the biggest moments of the last few seasons. None of that guarantees him a starting shirt, football doesn’t work that way, but it does mean any exit conversation carries a bit more emotional weight around Anfield than a standard squad rotation decision would.

Our Read

This one still sits in that in between zone, more live issue than resolved story. Liverpool have already shown what they think Jones is worth by rejecting Inter twice. Iraola has shown his hand by speaking so positively in public. The only piece missing is Jones himself, and whether he believes this new chapter under a new manager offers what he actually needs.

For what it’s worth, we’d love to see him stay. He’s not a fringe academy name making up the numbers, he’s a genuine talent with a real connection to this club, and in a summer where Liverpool have already lost significant characters from the dressing room, holding onto players who understand what this badge means still counts for something. Offer him a genuine role, not just warm words, and we suspect this saga ends the right way.

Either way, we’d rather Liverpool resolve this quickly than let it drag through the rest of pre season as background noise. Jones deserves clarity, the squad deserves certainty around its midfield options, and Iraola deserves the chance to build his group without a will he, won’t he storyline hanging over every press conference between now and the opening weekend. If the mood really has shifted as much as it sounds like it has, now is the moment to make it official.