Anyone looking for clues as to how important Curtis Jones is now viewed as at Liverpool hasn't needed to look far during the international break.

Now officially too old to be considered for England Under-21 duty after signing off in style by winning the European Under-21 Championship back in the summer, Jones's presence during the round of national games has instead been notable by some off-the-field duties in recent days as his ongoing rise to prominence within the Reds' squad goes on.

Jones was asked to contribute toward the club's radio advertisement for their Black Friday deals across all official outlets, delivering a cheeky nod to his now famous Merseyside derby winner against Everton in the FA Cup nearly four years ago.

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"What an offer that is then!" says Jones in his unmistakable Scouse drawl. It's a reference to a social media video that hailed that 1-0 victory over Everton in January 2020.

His "what a win that was then" declaration eventually went viral at the time but close to four years on it remains Jones's seminal moment as a Liverpool player.

There has been the undoubted flashes of brilliance here and there since but injuries have been a problem as he has tried to break into a squad that between the years of 2018 and 2022 was talked up as one of the finest in decades at Anfield.

He has spoken regularly of his determination to gain the trust of Jurgen Klopp and his 11-game run toward the end of last season suggested that was something he was starting to do, while Premier League starts against Wolves, Aston Villa and West Ham this term gave further evidence to that theory before his sending-off at Tottenham Hotspur at the end of September.

Since then, a combination of that suspension and a minor injury have ruled Jones out of league action and he has started just two games in nearly two months since he was dismissed in controversial fashion at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 30.

Whether rightly or wrongly, there will be no doubt that Jones will have been left immensely frustrated by that red card in north London at the time. It sidelined him for three games and allowed Ryan Gravenberch an opportunity he grasped firmly in his colleague's absence.

But his participation in a fascinating club podcast this week is also indicative of Jones's current standing within the Liverpool ranks.

"I came around the first team at 17, so it's always been a successful journey I'd say," Jones told the We Are Liverpool podcast this week. "But I came around the first team and I kind of felt like a little bit of a stop [in progress]. So it was like, 'what do I need to do next?' So, you know, I was training all week and then I'd be out of the squad.

"There are players who have always been the team since I've been around, who have been global stars playing 400 or 500-plus games, so I always knew it was going to be hard but it kind of felt like it was training all the time, and I wouldn't say the reward wasn't there because I was training and you've always got a smile on your face because you're training and it's hard, but there's a game at the end of the week.

"But the end of the week would come and the amount of times I'd check the list and I wasn't in the squad or different things like I wouldn't be travelling down and stuff like that.

"So I was around that stage for a long time and then there would be times when the team would be changed around so I'd go and play and do well, but then the team would change and we'd do something tactically and I was out the team again.

"So you know it's been hard but it's all part of the game and I go back to it all the time, and say you know what helped, that time when I was out the team, it helped me mature in a lot of ways. I'd changed my game a lot and I'd changed as a lad. I am here now and I definitely think that the team off the pitch was a big part of [my development]."

Perhaps the biggest indicator for Jones himself with regards to his current standing within the ranks is his comfort in dishing out advice to other, less experienced team-mates.

Despite being still just 22, the city-centre-born midfielder has more than 100 appearances in the Liverpool first team and captained the side earlier in the season in the Carabao Cup win against Leicester City.

He added: "The one thing I now say to the kids (Academy players) is you don't have to change your game, you just need to understand your game a bit more. So whereas Calum (Scanlon) likes to pick up the ball and run loads, I am not going to say to him: 'Ah no, you can't do that!' That is his game.

"I am not going to make him change his game but I was saying to him: 'Look we're 4-1 up here (against Toulouse at Anfield), we can control the game here a bit more, make them run and the more they run, the bigger gap will be and that's when you get your space'. That is what I was saying and he was doing it and taking it on board."

If Jones's early years as a senior have been characterised by his determination to truly break into the ranks and establish his own importance, the last six months or so have seen him move on to a new phase and his mentorship with the talented teenagers on the fringes is further proof.

With a full schedule of training behind him during the international break, however, Jones is surely pushing for a recall at Manchester City on Saturday and if the midfielder is still searching for his own clues on Klopp's trust in him, there can be no greater example of it than a starting berth at the Etihad.