Inter Milan are reportedly leading the race to sign Curtis Jones, while the Liverpool midfielder is open to a Serie A switch as contract talks with the Premier League club have stalled. Jones has just over a year left on his current deal, and TEAMTalk reports that he is keen on a move to Italy, with Aston Villa and Newcastle also keeping a close watch.
The timing matters because Liverpool host Brentford at Anfield on Sunday afternoon and can secure Champions League football for next season with a result. Mohamed Salah, 33, is part of the build-up too, with Arne Slot refusing to confirm whether he will start, as the club tries to finish the job on a day that could decide its European route.
Liverpool sit fifth in the Premier League table and would only drop into the Europa League if they lost and Bournemouth overturned a goal-difference deficit against Nottingham Forest. Liverpool’s goal difference is six better off than Bournemouth’s, which gives Slot’s side a cushion, but not one big enough to remove the pressure from a home game that now carries real consequences.
Jones’ situation has become one of the summer’s more watchable contract stories because the player appears willing to consider leaving England if the right offer comes. Inter’s interest is said to be strongest, and that puts Liverpool in a familiar spot: weighing whether to push again for an agreement or accept that a player with a year left can force a decision sooner rather than later. For Villa and Newcastle, the stalled talks offer an opening, but Italy looks like the destination that currently has the clearest momentum.
Slot kept his focus on the immediate task rather than the wider contract chatter around the squad. “I don't think it is that important what I feel about it,” he said, stressing instead that “what is important is that we qualify for the Champions League on Sunday and I prepare Mo and the whole team in the best possible way for the game.” He added that he was “very disappointed after our loss against Villa because a win would have given us qualification for the Champions League which we didn't get,” and called Sunday “a vital one for us as a club.”
There is another Liverpool link in the market, too. The club showed interest in Yan Diomande after he moved to Germany last summer in a deal worth around £17million, but RB Leipzig are now preparing to offer the 19-year-old a new contract and value him at around £103m, or €120m. No club has met that figure.
Diomande, for his part, has made clear where he stands for now. “My contract here is until 2030, so I have four more years. What’s going to happen afterwards? I don’t know. I am a Leipzig player. I will never forget this opportunity,” he said. He also thanked the club for support away from the pitch, saying, “The media only sees me on the pitch, but the club helped me a lot with my family and my mum. The only thing I can do for them is to give everything on the pitch and this is what I’m trying to do every day.”
That leaves Liverpool juggling two very different questions at once: how to secure the season they still need, and how to handle a midfield situation that may already be drifting toward a departure. Salah’s next selection call will matter on Sunday, but Jones’ contract clock is ticking toward a far bigger decision over where he goes after Liverpool.
