There won’t be a real homegrown presence at Liverpool this season with Jones following in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s footsteps in leaving for a move abroad – and there’s a sense things could have turned out differently
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The last time Curtis Jones played at the San Siro, he identified why Liverpool’s tactics succeeded. “I think it works because I am playing,” he said. That, perhaps, is Jones, cheeky and confident, but also a footballer with the capacity to exert an influence.
It was last December, three days after Mohamed Salah’s explosive interview at Leeds, with Liverpool omitting their greatest goalscorer for decades from the squad they took to Italy, with Arne Slot’s side having lost nine of their previous 15 games. They beat the 2025 Champions League finalists on their home turf. Jones was the best player on the pitch.
So it scarcely felt a coincidence when, about seven weeks later, Internazionale responded by trying to take Jones on loan. They failed, as they did with a €25m bid in June. A €35m (£30m) offer in August will represent a case of third time lucky, Inter landing their man.
Curtis Jones was the best player on the pitch when Liverpool beat Inter in Decemberopen image in gallery
Curtis Jones was the best player on the pitch when Liverpool beat Inter in December (Getty)
Liverpool have not quite got their valuation – they wanted €40m (£34m) a few weeks ago – and, in a summer when prices have skyrocketed in the midfield market, with Mateus Fernandes going for £85m, Sandro Tonali £100m and Elliot Anderson £116m, there is the sense Inter are getting a bargain in Jones.
Liverpool should have plenty of other regrets. Jones’ price was reduced because he was in the last year of his contract and they have played this game of brinkmanship too often in recent years, either losing players on free transfers – most recently Ibrahima Konate and, in different circumstances, Andy Robertson and Salah, but also Gini Wijnaldum, Naby Keita, Roberto Firmino, James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Divock Origi – or risking doing so, with the 2024 trio of Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, for whom they eventually received €10m, a fraction of his real value. Liverpool probably need to get better at negotiating contract extensions sooner.
They should lament the loss of a local, too; two Scousers, Alexander-Arnold and Jones, will be found in Madrid and Milan rather than Merseyside. A disconnect between the fanbase and the players emerged last season; it was felt that too few of them live in Liverpool. Without Jones, there won’t be a real homegrown presence in the side.
Then there is the question of if it could have been different. Jones was good enough to play for Liverpool – 228 times, more than Fabinho, Xabi Alonso or Philippe Coutinho – without necessarily nailing down a starting berth, seemingly to his frustration.
He had good spells in each of the last three campaigns but has never started 20 league games in a season. Under Arne Slot, he was fourth in line for a place in a three-man midfield; at least until Florian Wirtz’s arrival complicated the equation. The Dutchman pointed out that Jones played more matches in a year for him than ever before – 49 in 2025-26 – but the sense was his pecking order was too rigid; even when Alexis Mac Allister was poor last season, Slot tended to keep him in the team, along with Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai, which cost Jones. It was notable that his starring role at San Siro came in a midfield diamond, when Slot picked all four.
Jones played 228 times for Liverpool but struggled to find a regular starting spotopen image in gallery
Jones played 228 times for Liverpool but struggled to find a regular starting spot (Getty)
Jones was a two-time Premier League title winneropen image in gallery
Jones was a two-time Premier League title winner (Getty)
He ended last season as the regular right-back; but that clearly was not a long-term role. The issue of what Jones is may be unresolved. He sprang to prominence with a wonderful Merseyside derby winner when just 18 but scored too few goals; just 22 in those 228 Liverpool games, only one in the Premier League last season. But a reason to deem him an elite player was his ability to keep the ball. In each of the last six years, his pass completion rate in the Premier League has been over 90 per cent, even though he does not always take the safe option; as his performance in the San Siro showed, he has the personality to want the ball.
That charisma was apparent, too, when he became Liverpool’s youngest-ever captain, albeit while the senior squad were absent, at 19; the armband, and Jones’ ambition, were issues again in pre-season when Szoboszlai passed it to Kostas Tsimikas in pre-season, leading to an altercation. Under other circumstances, it would have been easy to envisage Jones brought into a leadership group at Anfield this year.
Instead, perhaps, new head coach Andoni Iraola may deem Trey Nyoni’s precocity in pre-season to think he does not need to buy to replace Jones; with Wirtz installed as a No 10, there is one fewer midfield place.
Inter, with their fondness for 3-5-2, play a trio. Nicolo Barella, Hakan Calhanoglu and Piotr Zielinski should start off as the first choices. Henrikh Mkhitaryan is still there, Aleksandar Stankovic has joined and, with Davide Frattesi loaned by Lazio, Jones has made it six options for three spots. He may be watching on from the bench again, but he has shown he can be the man of the match at San Siro.