Curtis Jones Faces €35m Dilemma as Inter Pushes for Transfer

Inter have come back for Curtis Jones, this time with more money on the table and a clearer sense that Liverpool’s resistance is starting to creak.

The Italian champions, rebuffed in June when a €25m offer was knocked back, have now indicated they are ready to climb to €35m (£30m) for the Liverpool midfielder. Liverpool, for their part, have been holding out closer to €40m, a figure shaped as much by sentiment and homegrown value as by pure market logic.

The new proposal has been relayed through intermediaries, who made fresh contact with Anfield this week and set out Inter’s willingness to push higher. Jones has only a year left on his contract. That single line on the balance sheet changes everything. Lose him now for a substantial fee, or risk watching a boyhood product walk away for nothing next summer.

Right now, Liverpool are leaning towards “no”. Doubt hangs over whether €35m will be enough. Yet the direction of travel is hard to ignore: a deal that felt distant a month ago now feels uncomfortably close.

On the pitch and around it, the picture has been equally tense. Jones has struggled to nail down a permanent starting place and spent long stretches of last season on the fringes under Arne Slot. The frustration has been visible. It flared again in New York on Wednesday, when he became embroiled in a row with Dominik Szoboszlai after Liverpool’s win over Wrexham, apparently angered at not receiving the captain’s armband when Szoboszlai went off in the second half.

Moments like that do not decide careers, but they do reveal a mood. Jones is 25 now, no longer the academy prospect waiting patiently for his turn. He needs games, responsibility, a stage that fits his ambition. Inter are offering exactly that: a central role at the heart of a title-winning side, a fresh start in Serie A, and a club that has made its intent crystal clear.

Inside Liverpool, the debate is sharper. New head coach Andoni Iraola has already stressed how important Jones is to his plans and to the club’s local identity as he begins his first season in charge. In a dressing room that has lost several senior figures in recent years, keeping a Scouser at its core carries weight.

But Inter are not going away. Their determination to land the England international, combined with the looming threat of a free transfer in 12 months’ time, will stretch Liverpool’s resolve right up to the line.

Sentiment says keep him. The market says sell. Which side wins as the clock ticks towards next summer?