Liverpool sweat over fitness of Curtis Jones after he goes off with injury in pre-season win over Real Betis... days after saying he's the 'happiest he's ever been' under new boss Arne Slot

Liverpool boss Arne Slot is anxiously awaiting news of midfielder Curtis Jones after he was forced out of the club's pre-season friendly against Real Betis.

The 23-year-old limped off with a muscle problem 30 minutes into a 1-0 win at the Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh during the early hours of Saturday morning.

Speaking after his first game in charge of the Reds, Slot told the club's official website: '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.

'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.'

Jones was replaced by 17-year-old Trey Nyoni, who had a hand in Dominik Szoboszlai's 34th-minute winner.

Slot added: 'It's always a pity if he (Jones) has to go out after 25 minutes, half an hour. 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.

'The good thing about that was that we brought someone (on) that impressed me in the 45 minutes to an hour he played afterwards.

'That was the positive thing of Curtis going out for Trey, but of course for Curtis it's a pity that he couldn't play on.'

It comes after Jones said he's the 'happiest he's ever been' after Slot's arrival at the club.

Before the match with Betis, he said: 'Arne is amazing. It is probably the happiest I have been. In terms of a style of play, it suits us and the lads we have. It is a clear plan. He is fully involved in the training, coaches us a lot, he's big on the finer details.

'My way of playing has always been a kid who wants to get on the ball and play, help the team, be comfortable on the ball. I then came around a team with world-class lads on the wing and up front. I felt like the centre midfielders were more disciplined runners.

'Of course, the principles are the same but now the midfielders are going to be the heart of the team. In terms of our build-up and being comfortable on the ball, we have to be more calm and play more as a team.

'We're not in a rush to attack. We want to have the ball and break teams down. I feel more in the past, it was like a rush. We got the ball back. It was a bit too direct I'd say. Arne wants us to get the ball down and completely kill teams.

Liverpool face Arsenal in Philadelphia on Thursday and Manchester United in Columbia, South Carolina next Sunday.