Curtis Jones: How Liverpool Ace Could End up Playing for Super Eagles

• Liverpool have another player who could feature in the Africa Cup of Nations
• The Reds have already lost Salah, who is currently on international duty with Egypt
• Curtis Jones could also be tempted to pledge his allegiance to his African heritage

Jurgen Klopp could have more AFCON headaches in future if one of his rising youngsters decides to represent the African country of his roots.

The Africa Cup of Nations is held every two years, and the 2023 edition is underway in Ivory Coast.

In recent years, Klopp has had to deal with the absence of key players, including Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.

Mane’s absence due to AFCON will not be felt this year, however, as the Senegal international departed Liverpool in 2022 and currently plays in Saudi Arabia for Al Nassr.

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But Klopp still has to make do with the absence of the Premier League’s Golden Boot favourite, Salah, who already has a goal to his name in the AFCON.

Klopp could lose another key player in future AFCON editions

Fresh reports now suggest that Klopp’s AFCON headache is set to continue, even in the unlikely event that Salah departs from the club.

One player that could cause problems with his absence is Curtis Jones.

You read that right. It turns out that the young midfielder has a loophole that can see him play for Nigeria. According to One Football, Jones is eligible to represent the Super Eagles through his grandmother.

The 22-year old has represented England at U-21 level but is yet to make a senior appearance for The Three Lions. This leaves the window open to switch international allegiance.

This is all speculation, however, as there has been no suggestion of Jones wanting to represent the Super Eagles.

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However, it is not strange to see a player change nationalities to represent a different country.

According to The Mirror, former Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha switched allegiance from England to Ivory Coast just as he was on the verge of being handed a senior debut in 2016. He has since earned over 30 caps, scoring five goals for the national team.

Another player who saw it better to take his chances away from the England national team is Demarai Gray, who, despite representing England in the U-18, decided to switch allegiance to play for Jamaica.

Super Eagles 'sad' after draw vs Equatorial Guinea

In other news, Nigeria coach Jose Peseiro admitted his players were downcast after a draw against Equatorial Guinea in their AFCON opener.

As Sports Brief reported, the Super Eagles had to come from behind to salvage a 1-1 draw in their opening game, while many punters tipped them to win comfortably.

Their next game is a tricky fixture against Ivory Coast on Thursday, January 18.