Curtis Jones on Verge of Inter Move as Liverpool Faces Midfield Gamble
The last Scouser in Liverpool’s first-team is edging towards the exit. Curtis Jones, the kid who walked through the doors at Kirkby at nine and grew into the face of the academy, is now on the brink of swapping Anfield for San Siro.
Jones and the hole he leaves behind
Fabrizio Romano has already delivered his trademark “here we go” on X, with Inter understood to have agreed a deal worth an initial €30m plus a further €4-5m in add-ons (€35m in total, around £34.3m). Italian outlets including Gianluca Di Marzio and La Gazzetta dello Sport have echoed that structure, with talk from Italy that an official announcement could land “in the next few hours”.
Liverpool sources are more cautious. The ECHO and James Pearce at The Athletic both report that a deal is close but not yet fully agreed. The direction of travel is clear, though: Jones is expected to leave.
For a player who never quite became a guaranteed starter, the reaction around the club says plenty. Jones has been many things for Liverpool: the swaggering teenager who lit up early cup ties, the reined‑in No.8 Jurgen Klopp moulded into a press-resistant cog, and most recently a reliable utility option who even filled in as an auxiliary right-back in Arne Slot’s final season.
He never hit the ceiling many imagined when he first broke into Klopp’s side, but he became quietly indispensable. Three midfield roles covered, plus defensive work on the right. Now that versatility walks out of the door at a time when Liverpool’s depth already looks thin.
The plan, though, appears brutally simple: there may be no direct replacement.
Journalist David Lynch has said via Anfield Index that, based on his information, there is “close to zero chance” Liverpool go into the market to plug the Jones gap. Instead, 19-year-old Trey Nyoni is expected to step up as fourth-choice central midfielder.
That is a huge show of faith. Or a huge risk.
Wataru Endo offers a more defensive option, and James McConnell’s proposed loan to Preston North End is currently on ice. The 21-year-old could yet be kept around as another homegrown body. Stefan Bajcetic, meanwhile, has been working on a separate training programme throughout pre-season and is attracting interest from Getafe, so he cannot be counted as an immediate solution.
The right side of defence, where Jones occasionally helped out, has its own patchwork cover. New loanee Ronald Araujo played six times at right-back for Barcelona last season and is trusted one-v-one in wide areas. Jeremy Jacquet and Joe Gomez can both step across if needed, with Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley out, and Calvin Ramsay remains at the club despite loan talk.
Liverpool’s stance is shaped not just by football logic but by registration rules. Losing a homegrown player like Jones and replacing him with a non-homegrown option would complicate an already tight Champions League squad picture, with several foreign players likely to miss out under UEFA regulations.
Homegrown targets such as Adam Wharton, whose purchase of a signed Steven Gerrard Istanbul 2005 shirt on eBay sparked fresh speculation, are either too expensive or not the right fit for Andoni Iraola’s plans.
Sky Sports’ Vinny O’Connor has suggested “you would expect a replacement to be brought in” if Jones leaves, but at present there are few obvious options at a price Liverpool are prepared to pay. With Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch already asked to shoulder a heavy load and Nyoni still learning the trade, the club is walking a fine line. By the end of the window, Liverpool could be chasing trophies with a lighter midfield than last season.
Quansah mistake, delayed punishment
If the Jones situation feels like a gamble, the Jarell Quansah story still looks like a full-blown misstep.
The clearest example of Liverpool weakening themselves after their 20th league title came with the Marc Guehi saga. A deal with Crystal Palace collapsed late on deadline day, with Steve Parish pulling the plug while Guehi was undergoing his Liverpool medical. Six months later, the England defender joined Manchester City in January for a lower fee than the one Liverpool had initially agreed. Guehi’s wage demands by then were beyond what the Reds were willing to pay.
The real damage, though, was done before that. Liverpool had already sanctioned Quansah’s move to Bayer Leverkusen despite the Guehi deal being far from secure. In doing so, they let one of the Premier League’s most promising young centre-backs leave for a fee that now looks like a steal, then failed to replace him properly. The result: a season balanced on the fitness of two senior, often out-of-form central defenders.
The structure of the Quansah deal only deepened the confusion. Liverpool pre-negotiated a buy-back clause that can be triggered this summer or next, suggesting they always thought a return was likely. It raised the obvious question: why let him go in the first place if the long-term plan was to bring him back?
This summer, that decision threatened to blow up again. Sky Sports and The Athletic both reported that Arsenal were in talks over Quansah, barely a year after his Anfield exit, with his buy-back fee believed to drop next year.
Then the landscape shifted. Sky Sports now say Arsenal are in advanced talks to sign Ezri Konsa from Aston Villa. Konsa, like Quansah, prefers the right side of defence and can cover at right-back. The Gunners have been linked with him for weeks, and their public interest in Quansah may well have been a way to pressure Villa over a £60m valuation.
Whatever the motive, the immediate threat has eased. The nightmare scenario of Quansah lining up for a direct Premier League rival just a year after leaving Liverpool looks to have been dodged. For now, at least, the door remains open for the Warrington-born defender to return in a future window.
Aranda on the radar as Liverpool look to the source
While senior exits dominate the headlines, Liverpool’s recruitment team keeps drilling into a familiar seam: South America’s next wave.
Having already struck a deal earlier in the summer for Colombian attacking midfielder Samuel Martinez – who will arrive in a year’s time – the club are now being linked with Boca Juniors talent Tomas Aranda.
El Crack Deportivo report that Liverpool, along with a cluster of European and Brazilian clubs, are “courting” the 19-year-old, who plays as an attacking midfielder and left winger. Aranda has a $20m (£14.7m) release clause and has produced one goal and three assists in 19 games this season. The raw numbers are modest, but inside Boca he is rated highly.
Club president Juan Roman Riquelme, a legend in Aranda’s position, has called him a “great gem” and, according to the report, “doesn’t want to know” about losing him. El Intransigente add that an offer close to the release clause could still force Boca into a difficult decision.
Chelsea take headline billing among the suitors, with Liverpool also said to be following Aranda “closely”. Inter, Arsenal, Bayer Leverkusen, the City Football Group, Parma, Como, Corinthians and Sao Paulo are all named as interested parties.
The profile fits the pattern. Liverpool have increasingly tried to bypass intermediary clubs in the hunt for elite young talent. Martinez, Mor Talla Ndiaye, Ifeanyi Ndukwe, Rio Ngumoha and Nyoni all reflect a strategy built on catching players early, before their price explodes.
Another name on the South and Central American watchlist is Tijuana playmaker Gilberto Mora, the 17-year-old who impressed for Mexico at this summer’s World Cup at youth level. Again, Liverpool are among the clubs linked.
Loans, Spurs circling Gakpo and Darwin’s Saudi shuffle
Away from the headline deals, Liverpool’s squad management continues in the margins.
Multiple outlets report that Ifeanyi Ndukwe is close to a season-long loan to Levante in LaLiga. The Austria Vienna academy product impressed at centre-back in pre-season and, by joining a club in a Band 1 domestic league, can accelerate his accumulation of points towards a UK work permit under post-Brexit rules. Paul Gorst has detailed the situation, with Levante understood to be leading the race, though the move is not yet confirmed.
In north London, Tottenham are plotting a late-window attacking spree. Sky Sports say Spurs want three forwards before the deadline, with Cody Gakpo among their priority targets. They are also pushing for Savinho on the opposite wing and a centre-forward, with Omar Marmoush on their list. Pedro Neto is viewed as an alternative if Gakpo cannot be prised from Anfield.
The twist? Spurs are said to be waiting to see whether Liverpool move for Bradley Barcola and potentially his Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Ibrahim Mbaye. Only then, the report claims, would they firm up a move for Gakpo on top of Savinho.
Elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, Darwin Nunez is on the move again. Frozen out at Al Hilal last season, he is now set to join Al Diriyah on loan. A switch to Trabzonspor, where he would have linked up with Mohamed Salah, collapsed, so Nunez will remain in the Saudi Pro League for at least another year. Journalist Sacha Tavolieri has outlined the deal, with Al Diriyah agreeing to cover 75% of his wages – a key factor in getting it over the line.
Endrick rumour unravels
On paper, Endrick to Liverpool makes a strange amount of sense. A young, explosive forward who can operate from the right or through the middle, already exposed to elite-level pressure, at a club that suddenly looks light on Salah alternatives.
In reality, the story behind the rumour is a classic case of the transfer mill eating its own tail.
It surfaced on Madrid Universal, a Real Madrid fan site that aggregates stories on their players and targets. Citing Mundo Deportivo, they claimed Endrick’s path at Madrid is blocked by competition and recent signings Yan Diomande and Carlos Espi, and that Liverpool had registered interest in a €65m (£55.7m) permanent deal or a loan.
Mundo Deportivo repeated the line, suggesting Liverpool viewed Endrick as a Salah replacement, and pointed to “the English press, specifically Livescore” as their source. Livescore’s piece, though, was a republished article from Anfield Watch, which itself leaned on an unsourced report from Fichajes.
From there, the logic collapses. Fichajes wrote that “Jose Mourinho is counting on the player for the upcoming 2026-27 season, although his future will depend on the attacker's own decision.” The problem? That decision has already been reported. The Athletic’s Mario Cortegana revealed last week that Endrick intends to stay and “fight for his place” at Madrid, a stance agreed by “the player, the club and head coach”.
Fichajes even acknowledge this, noting that Endrick has maintained his intention to compete for minutes and that “just a few days ago, the situation pointed to him staying after Mourinho and sporting leadership opted to keep him in the squad.” What they do not provide is any new information to suggest that decision has changed.
So the rumour rolls on without a fresh trigger, built on recycled reports and circular sourcing. It is a neat snapshot of how quickly a name like Liverpool can be dragged into a story that has no real foundation.
And that is the backdrop against which the club must now act: one genuine Scouse departure looming, one buy-back decision delayed, a teenage Boca gem being tracked, and the usual swirl of noise around them. With less than two weeks left in the window, Liverpool’s next move will say plenty about how bold – or how exposed – they are willing to be.
