Back around the time the World Cup was kicking off, Liverpool were telling Inter Milan to bugger off and stop sending in low-ball bids for Curtis Jones, with a formal second bid of around €25M (£21M) said to have been seen as insulting and unserious and the Reds pivoting to plan for a season with Jones in the mix.
At the time, Liverpool were said to have set €35M (£30M) as the selling price, but subsequent market activity along with interest from Nottingham Forest pushed that up to €40-47M (£34-40M)
based on a slew of reports. Nottingham were likely never an option for Jones himself, but now Inter are back and this time they’re serious.
Unfortunately for everyone, serious for Inter means another lowball bid, though this at least creeping closer to Liverpool’s original asking price—a month after the market and domestic interest saw it rise. Regardless, TalkSport’s Ben Jacobs says the Serie A side are back and have proposed a €32M (£27M) compromise.
A month ago, that would have likely been the good starting point for serious negotiations that those earlier bids weren’t. This time, it’s said Liverpool are said to have rejected it out of hand and simply pointed to the new price. Meet it, and a sale would be sanctioned. Fail to meet it and there’s simply nothing to talk about.
Perhaps the biggest question mark for those on the outside is whether the new asking price is €40M in Euros (and so around £34M in Pounds) or the £40M in Pounds (which is €47M in Euros) that many English reports have previously set it out as. Beyond that, at least, the club’s stance seems here quite entirely firm.
In any case, uncertainty around Jones’ future is less than ideal given Liverpool ended last season with a squad that was both thin and unbalanced, have already lost a number of key first team players this summer, and have so far largely failed to sign necessary replacements. Adding a Jones sale to that mix seems potentially reckless.
