Liverpool's Curtis Jones Faces £30m Exit as Newcastle's Interest Grows
Liverpool’s summer rebuild is beginning to squeeze one of their own, and a £30m exit is edging closer – with Newcastle potentially holding the key.
Inter circle as Jones enters final year
Three new faces have already walked through the doors at Anfield: Jeremy Jacquet, Ronald Araujo and Victor Munoz. Araujo’s arrival on loan from Barcelona, with a €55m option to buy, shores up the back line and frees Liverpool to turn their attention to the flanks.
Out wide, they are pushing for a double swoop on PSG, with Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye in their sights. If those deals land, Tottenham are expected to be given a clear run at Cody Gakpo, one of several players who could depart before the window shuts.
The Athletic recently listed Gakpo, Federico Chiesa and Curtis Jones among the names who could be moved on. For Jones, the timing is stark. He is 25, into the final year of his contract, and there are no talks over an extension.
Inter Milan have smelled opportunity. The Serie A champions tried to prise the Scouser away in January and have come back again this summer. Two bids have already gone in, the highest around €30m, but Liverpool initially pushed back, holding out for something closer to €40m–€45m.
Now the stance is softening.
Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano reports that Inter’s confidence is growing that Liverpool will deal at €35m – around £30m. On X, he wrote that Inter have kept Jones as a “priority target” since May and “now feel [the] deal could happen with Liverpool at €35m fee,” while stressing there is “still no green light to new bid until Davide Frattesi’s exit” but that Inter “definitely will try again for Curtis before the window ends.”
The message is clear: Inter are ready. They just need the domino in front of Jones to fall.
Newcastle’s midfield hunt could trigger the move
That domino is Davide Frattesi.
Inter want to cash in on the Italy international before launching what they hope will be a decisive offer for Jones. The club waiting in the wings for Frattesi? Newcastle United.
Newcastle’s midfield has been ripped open by the sale of Bruno Guimaraes to Arsenal for £75m, a deal they did not want but ultimately had to accept. They are now scrambling for reinforcements.
Their search has not gone smoothly. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has already turned them down in bruising fashion, while another leading target, Joao Palhinha, is on course to join Aston Villa. The pool of options at the level they want is shrinking fast.
That is where Frattesi comes into sharp focus. TEAMtalk revealed on Tuesday that Newcastle have been offered the 26-year-old, with Inter setting an asking price of €30m, around £26m. For a club suddenly armed with Guimaraes money and short of reliable midfield options, it is a proposal they cannot ignore.
If Newcastle decide Frattesi is the answer, Inter get their sale, their funds, and their green light. And once that happens, the pressure on Liverpool’s resolve over Jones will spike.
A homegrown midfielder, in his peak years, entering the final 12 months of his deal, with no extension on the table and a European champion ready to pay £30m. The equation is starting to look brutally simple.
If Newcastle pull the trigger on Frattesi, they may not just fix their own midfield. They could set off the chain reaction that sends Curtis Jones out of Anfield and into the heart of Inter’s title defence.
