Curtis Jones Faces Anfield Exit as Inter Milan Increases Offer

Inter Milan’s pursuit of Curtis Jones has moved from background noise to a drumbeat Liverpool can no longer ignore.

The Serie A champions have been on Jones’ trail since January, testing the waters with repeated bids and regular contact across the summer. Their latest offer, around €25million, was knocked back, and the message from Milan at that point was blunt: that was as high as they were prepared to go for a player entering the final year of his deal.

That stance has shifted. So has the mood around Anfield.

Inter raise the stakes

Inter’s negotiators have kept the move alive through intermediaries, who are now trying to piece together a fresh package in the region of €30million to break the impasse. It is still short of Liverpool’s long-held valuation – closer to €35m / £30m – but the gap no longer feels unbridgeable.

Inside the corridors at Liverpool, there is a growing sense that the club could bend, if not fully break, on that asking price. The feeling is that, in the current Premier League market, their valuation remains strong business for a homegrown midfielder, yet the direction of talks is slowly prising the door open.

Jones’ own stance matters here. He is understood to be open to the move. Contract discussions with Liverpool are not on the table, and that silence only amplifies the idea that this summer may be the natural breaking point between academy graduate and boyhood club.

Inter, already buoyed by the capture of John Stones earlier in the window, believe the timing is perfect. Add one England international, push hard for a second.

Iraola wants clarity, not chaos

Andoni Iraola has walked into Anfield with clear ideas and one obvious dilemma. He rates Jones highly and, on a purely football level, would prefer to keep him. A versatile midfielder, raised in the club’s system, still just 23 and with room to grow under a new coach.

But Iraola has also made his position plain behind closed doors: if Jones is going, he wants it sorted quickly. No long, messy saga bleeding into the final days of the window. No late scramble for replacements. Either Jones stays and becomes part of the new Liverpool, or he leaves in time for the club to react properly.

That urgency is feeding into the talks. Inter know Liverpool’s new head coach does not want this story hanging over pre-season and the opening weeks of the campaign. They sense leverage.

A flashpoint after Wrexham

All of this played out against the backdrop of a minor but telling incident after Liverpool’s recent pre-season win over Wrexham.

At full-time, there was a visible disagreement involving Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai and Kostas Tsimikas. The flashpoint? The captain’s armband. When Szoboszlai was substituted, he handed it to Tsimikas instead of Jones, who had expected to receive it. The snub, however small from the outside, clearly irritated the England midfielder.

Liverpool sources insist the clash is not being treated as a major dressing-room issue. Pre-season is full of frayed tempers and inflated moments. Yet in the context of Jones’ unresolved future, it added a fresh layer of scrutiny. A small scene, but one that hints at a player who no longer feels entirely central to the project.

For Inter, it is another sign the ground is shifting in their favour.

Decision time approaching

Right now, the numbers are simple. Inter are working towards a €30m package. Liverpool are still pointing to €35m as the benchmark. Jones is not pushing for a new deal. Iraola wants a fast resolution.

The lines are converging.

Inter’s confidence is growing that they can tempt Liverpool into a compromise and land a second England international in the same window. The only question left is how far the Reds are willing to move – and how quickly they are prepared to let a homegrown talent walk away from Anfield.