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It’s already been a big, unsettling week at Liverpool, with Michael Edwards stepping down from his role as FSG CEO of Football.
In the middle of a crucial summer window, losing a key figure in recruitment and strategy is far from ideal for a squad that still needs fine‑tuning under Andoni Iraola.
Reports have suggested that FSG’s unwillingness to install a multi-club ownership model has contributed to the 47-year-old’s exit.
This uncertainty comes at the same time as several first‑team contracts tick towards their final year, including Joe Gomez and Curtis Jones.
Inter Milan have had Jones on their radar all summer, having already seen two offers turned down by Liverpool. Their latest bid, worth around £21m, fell well short of the Reds’ firm valuation, which sits at around £40m for the academy graduate.
Inter chief Piero Ausilio has publicly admitted there is a “significant gap” between Inter’s value and Liverpool’s demands.
Liverpool, however, are prepared to keep him unless that £40m benchmark is met, even if it means taking a risk with his contract situation.
With Liverpool refusing to budge, Italian reports now claim Inter are considering a different route: waiting until they can sign Curtis Jones as a free agent once his current deal runs down.
Corriere dello Sport, via Sport Witness, outlines how Inter may only shift to this strategy after exhausting all options this summer, but the idea of landing him for nothing is firmly on the table.
For Liverpool, that would be bad news on several fronts. It has been reported by the Daily Mail that Liverpool would allow him to leave on a free next season if no club matches their valuation.
Jones is a home‑grown academy product, and any sale now would be classed as pure profit on the books – exactly the sort of deal that helps balance the finances and fund reinforcements elsewhere.
Letting him walk away for free would not only weaken the squad without any fee coming in, but would also mean the club losing a valuable financial lever