Curtis Jones Set for Inter Move as Liverpool Faces Midfield Gamble
Curtis Jones has been many things at Liverpool. A squad player, a utility man, a nearly-there star. But above all, he has been the last Scouser standing.
That part of the story is about to end.
Jones on brink of Inter move
On Monday lunchtime, Fabrizio Romano dropped his trademark “here we go” on X, and the clock started ticking. Inter have agreed a deal worth an initial €30m for Jones, with a further €4m–€5m in add-ons (€35m total, around £34.3m), with the 25-year-old already committed to joining the Italian champions.
Italian outlets quickly piled in. Gianluca Di Marzio detailed the structure: €30m up front, €4m–€5m in bonuses. La Gazzetta dello Sport went with €30m plus €5m and pushed it further, stating an “official announcement is expected in the next few hours.”
Inside Liverpool, the tone is more cautious. The ECHO and James Pearce at The Athletic both report that while a deal is “within sight”, there is still no final agreement. The direction of travel, though, is obvious. Jones is heading for the exit.
And with him goes a particular thread of Liverpool’s recent history.
Jones arrived at the academy at nine, burst onto the fringes of Jürgen Klopp’s first great side as a teenager and was hailed as one of the most exciting homegrown talents in years. The maverick, street-football instincts were gradually reined in; he became a press-resistant No. 8, a system player, less highlight reel, more metronome.
He never quite hit the ceiling many thought he had. Yet he turned himself into something managers crave: useful everywhere. Three midfield roles covered, plus a stint as an auxiliary right-back in Arne Slot’s final season. When Liverpool needed a body, Jones was often the answer.
Now Liverpool have to answer a different question: who replaces him?
Liverpool ready to roll the dice in midfield
The blunt response, according to journalist David Lynch (via Anfield Index), is nobody. Lynch says there is “close to zero chance” Liverpool sign a direct replacement, with 19-year-old Trey Nyoni earmarked as fourth-choice central midfielder.
That is a bold call with less than two weeks left in the window.
The internal options are clear enough. Wataru Endo offers a more defensive pivot. James McConnell’s proposed loan to Preston North End has been put “on hold”, suggesting Liverpool are considering keeping the 21-year-old as an extra homegrown body. Stefan Bajcetic, meanwhile, has been working on a separate programme all pre-season and is attracting interest from Getafe, so he cannot be relied upon in the short term.
Defensive cover bleeds into the midfield picture too. New loanee Ronald Araujo played six times at right-back for Barcelona last season and is trusted in wide one-v-one situations. Jeremy Jacquet and Joe Gomez can both shift across to protect Jeremie Frimpong while Conor Bradley is out. Calvin Ramsay, still at the club despite loan talk, is another natural right-back on the books.
Put together, Liverpool clearly feel they can patch and shuffle their way through without dipping back into the market. The calculation is complicated by UEFA’s Champions League squad rules; replacing a homegrown player like Jones with a non-homegrown signing would tighten an already strained list, with several senior names at risk of being left out.
Homegrown alternatives such as Adam Wharton, who sparked fan chatter after winning an eBay auction for a signed Steven Gerrard Istanbul 2005 shirt, have either been deemed too expensive or not quite the right fit for Andoni Iraola.
The risk is obvious. Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch were excellent last season, but beyond them the experience falls away sharply. Nyoni is talented but raw. One injury run and Liverpool could find themselves exposed in the very area that powered last year’s title win.
Vinny O’Connor of Sky Sports has suggested “you would expect a replacement to be brought in” if Jones leaves. Right now, the market is thin at the price level Liverpool usually operate at. If the club stick to their stance, they may finish this window lighter in midfield than they started it.
Quansah clause keeps door ajar after Guehi saga
If Liverpool do end up light, it will not be the first time the post-title squad has looked thinner than it should.
The Marc Guehi saga still stings. Liverpool agreed a deal with Crystal Palace last summer, only for Steve Parish to pull the plug late on deadline day while the defender was undergoing his medical. By January, Guehi was a Manchester City player, for a lower fee than Liverpool had put on the table.
Liverpool walked away from his wage demands in the winter, but the real damage came earlier. They had already sold Jarell Quansah to Bayer Leverkusen. One of the most promising young centre-backs in the league gone for what now looks a bargain fee, leaving Liverpool to navigate a season with just two senior centre-backs, both frequently off form or injured.
The baffling part? Liverpool inserted a buy-back clause and even pre-negotiated a contract for Quansah’s return, valid this summer or next. It was an admission that they might want him back almost as soon as he left.
With Jeremy Jacquet signed, Giovanni Leoni regaining fitness and Araujo arriving on loan, Liverpool parked the Quansah question this summer, comforted by a buy-back fee that is believed to drop in 12 months. Then came the scare.
Last week, Sky Sports and The Athletic both reported that Arsenal were in talks to sign Quansah just a year after he left Anfield. The optics were dreadful: Liverpool selling a top prospect, watching him shine in Germany and then seeing him walk into a Premier League rival’s defence.
Now it looks like they might get away with it.
Sky Sports report Arsenal are “in advanced talks” for Aston Villa defender Ezri Konsa, a right-sided centre-back who can also cover at right-back, much like Quansah. Arsenal have been linked with Konsa for weeks. It is entirely possible that the public interest in Quansah was leverage to bring Villa’s valuation down from the reported £60m.
Whatever the truth, the nightmare of Quansah turning up in Arsenal colours appears to be off the table for now. Liverpool’s buy-back remains intact. The door for a future return stays open.
Liverpool track Boca gem Aranda and other young talent
While the first-team picture looks tight, Liverpool’s recruitment department continues to cast its net deep into South America.
After striking a deal earlier in the summer for Colombian attacking midfielder Samuel Martinez, who will arrive in a year’s time, the club have now been linked with Boca Juniors prospect Tomas Aranda.
El Crack Deportivo report that Liverpool, along with several European and Brazilian clubs, are “courting the services” of the 19-year-old, who operates as an attacking midfielder and left winger. Aranda has a $20m (£14.7m) release clause and has recorded one goal and three assists in 19 league games this season.
Those numbers are modest, but the internal rating at Boca is not. Club president Juan Roman Riquelme, a legend in Aranda’s position, has labelled him a “great gem” and, according to the report, “doesn’t want to know” about losing him.
The list of suitors is long. Chelsea are given top billing, as they are in a corroborating piece from El Intransigente. Inter, Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, the City Football Group, Parma, Como, plus Corinthians and Sao Paulo are all said to be watching closely. Liverpool, for their part, are described as following Aranda “closely”.
Boca do not want to sell, but El Intransigente suggest that a bid close to the release clause would force a decision.
This is the kind of market Liverpool have leaned into recently. Rather than waiting for young talent to be polished elsewhere, they have tried to move earlier: Martinez, Mor Talla Ndiaye, Ifeanyi Ndukwe, Rio Ngumoha, Nyoni. Aranda would fit that pattern.
Liverpool have also been linked with 17-year-old Tijuana playmaker Gilberto Mora, who caught the eye at the U-17 World Cup with Mexico this summer. The club’s scouts are clearly busy.
Ndukwe loan, Spurs eye Gakpo and Nunez on the move
One of those recent youth signings is about to take a significant step. Various outlets report that Ifeanyi Ndukwe is set to join LaLiga side Levante on a season-long loan. The centre-back, an Austria Vienna academy product, impressed in pre-season and now looks set to test himself in Spain.
The move, not yet officially confirmed, is described by Paul Gorst as having Levante “at the front of the queue as things stand.” Crucially, playing in a Band 1 domestic league should help Ndukwe accelerate his points tally for a UK work permit under post-Brexit rules.
At senior level, Cody Gakpo’s future has been dragged into the late-window swirl. Sky Sports say Spurs want to sign three attackers before the deadline, with Gakpo among their top wing targets. They are also pushing for Savinho on the opposite flank and want a centre-forward, with Omar Marmoush on their list. Pedro Neto is seen as an alternative to Gakpo if a move for the Dutchman proves impossible.
The report adds an intriguing detail: Spurs are said to be “waiting for Liverpool to sign Bradley Barcola and – potentially – his Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Ibrahim Mbaye” before launching a move for Gakpo on top of Savinho. For now, that chain of events sits firmly in the realm of hypotheticals.
In Saudi Arabia, Darwin Nunez is on the move again. The forward is set to join Al Diriyah on loan from Al Hilal after being frozen out at last season’s league runners-up. Nunez had been expected to join Mohamed Salah at Trabzonspor, but that transfer collapsed, keeping him in the Pro League for at least another year. According to Sacha Tavolieri, Al Diriyah’s willingness to cover 75% of his wages has been key to getting the deal over the line.
Endrick rumour unravels
On paper, Endrick to Liverpool looks neat. A right-wing and central option, already blooded at the top level, with the potential to one day replace Salah. That is how the rumour mill sold it.
Scratch the surface and the story falls apart.
The trail runs like this. Madrid Universal, a Real Madrid fan site, picked up a piece from Mundo Deportivo claiming Liverpool had registered interest in either a €65m (£55.7m) permanent deal or a loan for Endrick, who is currently battling for minutes in a crowded Madrid attack.
Mundo Deportivo, in turn, pointed to “the English press, specifically Livescore.” Livescore’s article was a rehashed piece from Anfield Watch, which itself leaned on an unsourced story from Fichajes – a regular in the nonsense column.
Fichajes claimed “Jose Mourinho is counting on the player for the upcoming 2026-27 season, although his future will depend on the attacker's own decision.” The problem is that decision has already been made public. Last week, The Athletic’s Mario Cortegana reported that Endrick, Real Madrid and the head coach had agreed he would stay and “fight for his place.”
Fichajes even acknowledged that Endrick had maintained his intention to compete for minutes in Madrid and that the club hierarchy had opted to keep him in the squad. What they never did was explain what had changed to justify a Liverpool angle.
Because nothing has.
The rumour exists as a loop of aggregation, each outlet citing another until the original source – a speculative piece with no fresh information – disappears from view. It is a neat snapshot of how the market noise builds in late August.
Liverpool, meanwhile, have real decisions to make. Letting Curtis Jones go without a replacement. Trusting a teenager like Nyoni. Sitting on a buy-back clause for Quansah. Chasing the next Aranda or Mora.
The window is closing fast. The margins at the top are brutal. How much risk are Liverpool really prepared to carry into a season they expect to challenge again?
