Curtis Jones injury update delivered after Liverpool beat Real Betis

Arne Slot has delivered an injury update on Curtis Jones after the Liverpool ace was withdrawn in the 1-0 pre-season win over Real Betis.

The midfielder, who this week spoke of his eagerness to play a key role for the new Reds head coach during 2024-25 season, was forced off during the first half during the victory over the La Liga outfit in Pittsburgh in the early hours on Saturday morning (UK time).

With the start of the Premier League campaign looming in addition to Liverpool being back in action in a few days against Arsenal, it would be a massive setback for Jones' bid to cement his place in Slot's midfield plans if he's not able to feature.

Quizzed on the 23-year-old's fitness after claiming a first win since replacing Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool boss revealed that he did not want to take any risks with Jones and that the club is waiting to discover the extent of the injury.

"I think it's too early to tell [how bad it is]. He maybe could have played on, but I think maybe you could see he was not at 100 per cent," the Dutchman said, as per the club's official website.

"In a friendly game, with so many days coming up in our tour, it was best to take him off. Hopefully he can recover from [it] really fast, but we have to wait and see.

"We hope he recovers really fast so we can see him in the next few games."

Slot: Jones was unfortunate

Given the absences of Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch coupled with no midfield signings made by Liverpool so far this summer, it was an opportunity for Jones to stake his claim for regular game time and Slot was sympathetic for the talented ace after coming off.

"It's always a pity if he has to go out after 25 minutes, half an hour," Slot added. "And before that you could see that he was not completely free.

"It was unfortunate because he had two really good weeks during the training sessions so I looked forward to seeing him in the game, but unfortunately he had to go out."