Inter's €35m Bid for Curtis Jones Puts Liverpool in Dilemma
Inter have come back for Curtis Jones, this time with more money on the table and a clearer signal of intent. The Italian champions are prepared to raise their offer for the Liverpool midfielder to €35m (£30m) as they try to prise him away from Anfield before his contract runs down.
Their first bid of €25m in June was swiftly rejected. Liverpool, conscious of both his homegrown status and his symbolic value as a local lad, have been holding out for closer to €40m. Inter have not walked away. Instead, intermediaries acting for the club reopened talks with Liverpool this week and made it plain they are willing to go higher.
The clock complicates everything. Jones has only one year left on his deal. That reality drags Liverpool towards a decision they would rather not make: cash in now, or risk losing a boyhood Red for nothing next summer. For all the public insistence on his importance, the sense is that a parting of ways is moving from possibility to probability.
On the pitch, Jones has struggled to nail down a permanent starting role. Under Arne Slot last season he often found himself on the margins, a squad player rather than a guaranteed name on the teamsheet. His frustration has not been hard to spot.
It flared again in New York on Wednesday. After Liverpool’s win over Wrexham, Jones became embroiled in a dispute with Dominik Szoboszlai, apparently over not receiving the captain’s armband when Szoboszlai was substituted in the second half of the friendly. It was a minor incident in isolation, but it underlined a player who feels his standing is under threat at his own club.
Into that tension steps Andoni Iraola. The new Liverpool head coach has spoken publicly about the need to keep Jones and preserve a strong local core as he begins his first season in charge. For a manager trying to build authority and identity, losing a homegrown midfielder in his prime is hardly an ideal opening note.
Yet Inter are not backing off. They see value in a 25-year-old England international available at a price below Liverpool’s initial valuation, with the leverage of his contract situation only growing by the week. Their readiness to push to €35m is designed to test Liverpool’s resolve and force a decision long before the risk of a free transfer becomes acute.
Liverpool now stand at a familiar modern crossroads: sentiment and symbolism on one side, hard economics on the other. Inter have made their move. The next one belongs to Anfield.
