Inter Milan Sets Deadline for Curtis Jones as Liverpool Holds Firm

Liverpool’s summer of upheaval has taken another sharp turn, with Inter Milan setting a clear deadline in their pursuit of Curtis Jones while another potential target, Brighton’s Yasin Ayari, cools talk of an Anfield move.

Inter push for Jones as Liverpool hold firm

Inter’s interest in Jones is no longer a slow-burn rumour. It has a date stamped on it.

The Serie A champions want the Liverpool midfielder “available in Germany starting July 16th,” according to Gazzetta Dello Sport, as they look to have their squad in place for pre-season. Simone Inzaghi’s side are working off a valuation of around €20m, and TEAMtalk have already reported that Jones has given the green light to a move.

Liverpool see it very differently.

The club are holding out for closer to €30m, and crucially, they want a percentage of any future resale baked into the deal. For a homegrown midfielder, still just 23 and with Premier League and European experience, the Reds believe they are in no rush to compromise.

Inter, though, are banking on time and the player’s will. Gazzetta describe the Italians as “confident in the player’s desire” and note that his contract has just a year left to run. From their side, that combination usually drags the price down.

There is another complication: Inter are already “stuck with around 20 players” under contract. Outgoings must clear the way for incomings, but the plan is clear – they want Jones in their group when they head to Germany, with Chivu able to work with “both the old and the new players” from the start of camp, minus their World Cup contingent.

For Liverpool, it is a delicate balancing act. They have already lost Ibrahima Konaté and Andy Robertson on free transfers, to Real Madrid and Tottenham respectively, and Mohamed Salah has publicly signalled his intention to leave for Saudi Arabia or another destination. With Alexis Mac Allister and others also linked with moves, the club cannot afford to misjudge the market on one of their remaining assets.

Sell too low, and they weaken both squad and negotiating power in a single move. Hold too firm, and Inter may walk away from a rare opportunity to bank a sizeable fee for a player who could leave for nothing next year.

The clock is ticking towards July 16. The standoff is real.

Ayari plays down Liverpool talk

While Jones weighs up a move out of Anfield, another midfielder linked with Liverpool is doing his best to shut out the noise.

Yasin Ayari, the Brighton player currently on international duty with Sweden, has been mentioned as a possible target after impressing in his country’s opening match of the tournament. Asked directly about negotiations over a move to Liverpool, he brushed it aside.

“I’m in the World Cup bubble, as they say. I don’t have a clue about anything,” he told Fotbollskanalen. “Everyone else is taking care of it for me. I’m just here and focusing on the World Cup.”

For now, that is as firm a line as any club will get. Ayari’s focus is on the national team, while his representatives and Brighton handle the rest.

Back at club level, Brighton have already dipped into Ayari’s past by signing Zadok Yohanna from his former side AIK Fotboll. Ayari is ready to play the senior role.

“It will be fun. I haven’t seen much of him in the Swedish league, but it will be fun to start and see how he goes,” he said. “I will take care of him, but many people will take care of him. It’s a family club, so it should go well.”

Brighton’s model remains intact: identify, develop, sell at a premium. Liverpool know that world well; they paid it for Mac Allister. If Ayari does become a concrete target, they will not find a bargain on the south coast.

For now, though, Liverpool’s immediate battle is elsewhere – across the negotiating table from Inter, with Curtis Jones caught between a club protecting its value and a European giant intent on getting their man before the plane leaves for Germany.