Curtis Jones has warmed hearts with a glimpse of his personality behind the scenes – and it’s exactly as you’d expect.
The Liverpool star has been widely praised for his humour dealing with a young Everton fan in the wake of the Merseyside derby.
Jones started at right-back at Anfield as the Reds ground out a 1-0 win on Wednesday night to restore their 12-point lead over Arsenal in the Premier League.
And on Thursday, a video was posted of Jones taking some unexpected flak from a young Everton fan at a petrol station.
Jones had leaned in and smiled – even flashing a thumbs up – for what he assumed to be a photo with the young football fanatic.
But it turned out to be a clever ruse by the youngster who, having ensnared Jones in his camera frame, capitalised with an unsavoury chant: ‘Kopites are gobs*****, duh duh duh!’
Curtis Jones has been praised for how he dealt with an Everton fan who mocked him, singing ‘Kopites are gobs*****’
But Jones had the last laugh after Liverpool beat Everton 1-0 in the Merseyside derby
At that point, Jones, 24, had two possible routes: either to take the ridicule on the chin, or react like an entitled celebrity.
But it was never in doubt. Jones peeled away laughing and with a smile on his face, and continued to take the chant from the kid with a good nature.
As Jones walked back to his car, the fan gave him the double finger treatment and continued his mockery: ‘Shut up, lad, you little mink! Kopites are gobs*****!’
Clearly the boy appreciated Jones’ playful nature, as he was smiling throughout the video and chuckling to himself.
‘That’s class tbf,’ wrote one viewer on X.
‘Fair play to Jones. This is what banter should be about,’ another wrote.
‘Fair play all round here. The lad giving it and Jones taking it like he should,’ one said.
‘Hahaha I love how much Jonesy respected this kid for doing it yeno, what a lad!’ another wrote.
‘Good sport that Curtis,’ one commented.
Fans of all allegiances were quick to pay respect to Jones for his humour with the youngster
Jones passed his audition at right-back with flying colours at Anfield, in a game that will give Arne Slot food for thought, especially with Rent Alexander-Arnold’s potential move to Real Madrid in the summer.
He completed 68 of 73 passes, won three of five duels and won possession six times.
‘Curtis was excellent,’ said Andy Robertson. ‘He played a really good game, he is such an intelligent footballer. We were joking yesterday — he has played left wing, as a No 10, a striker, a No 6, a No 8 and a right back.
‘It shows how intelligent he is, he took the game in his stride. So comfortable on the ball and defended well too.’
Slot added: ‘It is not something that came up last week, it is something we thought about for a bit longer. The first half of the season were moments we talked about with him. I thought he was able to do this or do it in moments.
‘Three full backs are injured so then it is a choice of playing a centre back, but we felt that to have a chance to win the game we had to play better than in the away game. A risk to play there as a midfielder but I thought he could help with the creativity.
‘He did very well defensively, strong performance from him and nice to have another option.’
