Inter Milan's Bid for Curtis Jones Rejected by Liverpool
Inter Milan’s pursuit of Curtis Jones has hit a wall – and it is painted Liverpool red.
The Serie A champions have twice gone to Anfield with offers for the midfielder. Twice they have been sent away, baffled by the numbers coming back from Merseyside. Jones, for his part, has already made his choice. He wants Inter. He sees his Liverpool chapter as effectively closed.
Inter’s offers swatted away
Inter first firmed up their long-standing interest at the start of last week, putting down an opening bid in the region of £18m (€21m, $24m). Liverpool barely blinked. The proposal was dismissed quickly and emphatically.
The Italians returned with an improved package, roughly £21m (€24m, $28m). Same answer. Rejected again, with the gap between the clubs described as “significant”.
This is not a speculative chase. Inter tracked Jones through the winter and held talks in January, then parked the move with a view to going back in this summer. They have now made him one of their key targets and believed the final year of his contract would make a deal relatively straightforward.
It has done the opposite.
Liverpool dig in on valuation
Inside Liverpool, the stance is clear. They value Jones at around £35m (€40m, $46m) and are refusing to budge. Senior figures at Anfield point to the current English transfer market – skewed again by big spending at the top, including Manchester City’s plans to lay out more than £120m on Elliot Anderson – as justification for their price.
The argument is blunt. Homegrown English talent carries a premium. Jones, a 25-year-old academy product with proven Premier League experience, still has “significant quality” and “plenty of value” even as he heads into the final 12 months of his deal.
Inter do not buy that logic.
Sources close to the Italian champions question why Premier League conditions should dictate a negotiation when the player is not entertaining a move elsewhere in England. There is no domestic auction here, no rival English club driving up the price. Jones wants Italy. Jones wants Inter.
From Inter’s perspective, that matters. So does the contract. With just a year left, they believe Liverpool’s bargaining position is weaker than the club is prepared to admit and that a more realistic figure must be found if this is to get done.
Player and club pulling in different directions
Jones’ camp are not entirely aligned with Liverpool either. Those close to the midfielder view a fee under £30m (€34.5m, $46m) as a fair compromise – a number that reflects both his ability and the ticking clock on his contract.
That sits much closer to Inter’s thinking than to Liverpool’s current demands.
The player’s intentions are not in doubt. He is understood to be genuinely excited by the prospect of joining the reigning Italian champions and sees San Siro as the ideal next step in his career. Inter, for their part, are convinced he wants the move and have been planning around that assumption for months.
The picture at Anfield only sharpens his desire to go. Jones started just 18 Premier League games in the 2025/26 season and, under new manager Andoni Iraola, there is a belief he is not a natural fit for the high-energy, relentless style the Spaniard favours.
He is well regarded inside the club. He is not guaranteed minutes. No one expects that to change dramatically under Iraola, and the player knows it.
A stand-off with time ticking
So the stand-off hardens. Liverpool are open to selling but determined not to let one of their own leave for what they see as a cut-price fee. Inter are equally adamant that they will not be dragged into paying a Premier League-style premium in a market where they feel they hold some leverage.
Jones stands in the middle, committed to the move, waiting for the numbers to align.
For now, the valuations remain some distance apart. Yet the story is not finished. Inter are not walking away from a player they have tracked, courted and finally convinced. Liverpool know they risk losing him for far less – or for nothing – if they misjudge the next few weeks.
Further talks are expected as both clubs probe for a figure they can live with. One side will have to blink. The question is whether it will be the club desperate to keep its pricing power, or the club convinced that time and the player’s will are on its side.
