With just a year left in midfielder Curtis Jones’ contract at Liverpool and the player resisting efforts to negotiate a new deal, most believe he’s likely to be sold this summer with Serie A side Inter Milan widely seen as favourites to sign the 25-year-old. The only problem there is that Serie A clubs like to cry pauper.
Liverpool have signalled that they believe in the current market Jones is worth £35M, and while there’s usually some wiggle room in negotiations, Inter led with a sub-£20M opening bid and have now reportedly returned with an offer just a tick higher at £21.6M (or €25M in Euros).
With the Reds having made clear to Inter what they believe Jones is worth and having rejected their opening bid out of hand, returning with a second lowball offer is said to have “irritated” Liverpool. They don’t see the ever-so-slightly improved bid as serious, and there’s a growing sense at the club that Inter are either unwilling or unable to come close to their valuation.
If that’s the case, Liverpool have made clear that they will not be forced into a bargain sale and would instead prefer to keep Jones around for the final year of his contract, hoping that perhaps he hits the ground running under new head coach Andoni Iraloa and becomes more willing to discuss a new contract.