Inter Pursues Curtis Jones as Liverpool Faces £30m Exit

Inter are pressing ahead with a move for Curtis Jones, with Liverpool braced to lose their boyhood midfielder if the Italian champions hit a £30m (€35m) fee.

The 25-year-old has sat on Inter’s shortlist since January. They tested Liverpool’s resolve with a €25m offer in June and were firmly knocked back. At that point, Liverpool’s valuation hovered closer to €40m.

The landscape has shifted.

Jones is into the final year of his contract and there is no agreement in sight over an extension. With that clock ticking, Liverpool know the upper end of their original price is now out of reach.

Inter’s intermediaries returned in July, sounding out Liverpool with a structure that could reach €35m – roughly £30m – for the England international. Formal negotiations between the clubs began on Wednesday. There is still no deal, but if Inter go to the full €35m figure, Liverpool are expected to accept and let Jones go.

Inside Anfield, Inter’s recent business has not gone unnoticed. Their willingness to commit €35m to sign Djed Spence from Tottenham last week has been viewed as a clear benchmark for what they can – and should – pay for Jones.

For Liverpool, this is not just another outgoing.

Jones joined the club at the age of nine and grew into one of the standard-bearers of their academy, a Toxteth-born midfielder who broke through and has since earned six England caps. Yet he has never fully nailed down a permanent starting spot and spent stretches of last season under Arne Slot looking frustrated on the fringes.

That tension between potential, opportunity and reality now frames the decision.

New head coach Andoni Iraola made a point at his unveiling of stressing how much he valued Jones and the importance of keeping a local core in his side. He spoke about identity, about the power of having Liverpool-born players driving the team.

But Inter have not gone away. They have come back, stronger and more organised, and the risk of losing Jones for nothing next summer looms large over any romantic notion of simply holding on.

Liverpool must now decide: cash in on a homegrown talent at his peak market value, or gamble on a new contract that, so far, shows no sign of materialising.