Curtis Jones suffers injury in pre-season but his Liverpool replacement brings glimmer of hope for Arne Slot

Liverpool suffered a potential blow in their 1-0 win over Real Betis as Curtis Jones was forced off the pitch with an injury.

The midfielder was replaced in the 30th minute by Trey Nyoni in the pre-season clash in Pittsburgh on Friday night.

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Dominik Szoboszlai scored the winner in Arne Slot’s first outing but the new Reds boss admitted he had concerns over Jones.

He said: “I think it’s too early to say (how serious it is). He could have maybe carried on playing, but I think you could maybe see he wasn’t 100 per cent.

“In a friendly, with so many days to go in our tour, it was best to rest him. I hope he can recover very quickly, but we have to wait and see.”

“We hope he recovers very quickly so that we can see him again in the next matches.”

Slot added: “It’s always a shame that he has to go out after 25 minutes, half an hour. And before that you could see that he wasn’t completely free.

“It was a shame because he had a very good two weeks in training so I was looking forward to seeing him in the game, but unfortunately he had to come off.

“The good thing is we brought in someone who impressed me for the 45 minutes to an hour he played afterwards.

“That was the positive thing about Curtis coming out for Trey, but of course for Curtis it’s a shame he couldn’t continue playing.”

Jones recently expressed his delight at Slot’s arrival, having been largely a fringe player under Jurgen Klopp.

“He’s unbelievable,” the 23-year-old said when asked about Slot.

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“It’s probably the happiest time I’ve ever had. In terms of playing style, it suits me. It’s a clear plan. Arne is fully involved in training, he coaches us a lot, he’s very attentive to detail.

“He knows it’s going to take a little bit of time because it’s a big change. I joined the team when I was young. I always had a way of playing, but I had to adapt and change. It wasn’t something I couldn’t do.

“But now it’s not me anymore. I can’t get on the ball anymore. I can’t ‘do it myself’ anymore.”

Nyoni’s impressive performance was a bright spot for Slot in a revealing friendly in the United States.

The 17-year-old caught the manager’s eye and impressed the Liverpool fans watching from home.

Nyoni made his first-team debut in the 3-0 win over Southampton in the FA Cup earlier this year, becoming the youngest Liverpool player to feature in the competition.

The former Leicester academy star was promoted to the first-team under Klopp last season after impressing in the Reds’ youth team.