Inter Pursues Curtis Jones as Liverpool Stands Firm
Inter have locked on to Curtis Jones and they are not treating this like a passing summer whim.
The Serie A champions have already tested Liverpool’s resolve with a £30 million bid for the midfielder, only to be swiftly knocked back, with the Premier League club signalling they want closer to €40m before they even think about letting an academy product walk out of Anfield.
That rejection hasn’t cooled Inter. It has sharpened their focus.
Chivu’s request, Marotta’s mission
At the heart of this pursuit sits Cristian Chivu. In a recent strategy dinner with president Beppe Marotta and sporting director Piero Ausilio, the new Inter coach put a name on the table: Jones.
Not as a luxury signing. As a specific piece in a carefully drawn system.
Chivu wants a “seventh” midfield option, a disruptive profile who can break rhythm, press, and give him a different gear in the middle of the pitch. In his eyes, the 25-year-old Liverpudlian ticks every box.
Jones, pushed to the fringes under new Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola, has grown increasingly dissatisfied with his role on Merseyside. The promise of San Siro, a starring place in a title-winning squad, and a fresh tactical challenge in Italy appeals. Reports in Italy say he would welcome the move.
English flavour in Milan
If Inter get their way, Jones would not walk into an unfamiliar dressing room for an English player.
The club are already putting the final touches on a deal for Manchester City defender John Stones, who is undergoing medical tests in Italy. That move underlines Inter’s ambition and sets a clear tone: they are shopping at the very top end of the Premier League market.
Jones is the next target on that list.
The midfield logjam
There is one problem. Inter’s midfield is crowded.
Before they can push Liverpool closer to the negotiating table, the Nerazzurri must clear space and raise funds. The situation around Davide Frattesi is the most urgent. The Italy international wants out to relaunch his career, but despite his desire to leave, no acceptable offers have landed on Inter’s desk.
Behind him, the club are also planning to move on Kristjan Asllani, another player who has struggled to carve out a consistent role. Young prospect Ebenezer Akinsanmiro has already gone, sealing a switch to Monza.
For Inter’s hierarchy, these exits are not optional. They are the financial and tactical precondition for a serious assault on Jones.
Inter’s waiting game with Liverpool
So Inter wait. Deliberately.
The Italian champions are ready to play the long game, convinced that the calendar will become their ally. The plan is simple: drag the talks towards late August and test Liverpool’s appetite for keeping an unhappy, homegrown player on the margins of the squad as the season looms.
The risk for Liverpool is clear. Hold out too stubbornly and they could alienate a player who has worn their colours since his youth-team days, all while leaving money on the table in a market that rarely forgives hesitation.
Inter believe that pressure, applied quietly and consistently, will eventually crack the stalemate and drag the asking price down towards their range.
Directors stay home to close the deal
While Iraola’s Liverpool squad cross time zones on a pre-season tour through Hong Kong and Perth, the real contest is being played out in European boardrooms.
Marotta and Ausilio will not be on the plane. They are staying back, phones on, lines to Liverpool open, ready to pounce on any shift in stance from Anfield.
For now, it is a stand-off: Liverpool holding firm on valuation, Inter refusing to walk away from a player their new coach has personally requested.
The clock is ticking. Will it end with Jones in black and blue under the San Siro lights, or with Liverpool gambling that a sidelined academy graduate will simply fall back into line?
