Curtis Jones has dropped a fitness hint as speculation about his Liverpool future continues. The midfielder missed the Reds’ pre-season friendly loss to Monaco on Sunday as a precaution because of a hip issue.
But his absence only heightened speculation about his future as the England international continues to be linked with a move to Internazionale. The Serie A giants failed in an attempt to sign the 25-year-old back in January, but have maintained interest in his services.
Transfer saga continues
Liverpool rejected an offer of around £21m back in June, and felt at the time that further negotiations would be futile given the size gap in valuations between the two clubs. Inter renewed their interest in Jones at the end of last month as they contacted the Reds over a deal worth £30m.
Liverpool value the midfielder, who has a year left on his contract, at £35m. Jones’ absence from the Reds’ squad against Monaco led conspiracy theorists to speculate that it was a sign that the Scouser was edging closer to a move to Italy.
Injury update and return to training
However, head coach Andoni Iraola would later explain that the 25-year-old missed the game against the Ligue 1 outfit because of injury. “Curtis, he has trained every day but yesterday finished with issues in the hip,” he said. “It doesn’t look anything big but it didn’t make any sense to risk and those are the ones, more or less, closer to a return.”
Jones was back in training on Wednesday and took to Instagram to post a selfie of himself in the gym alongside team-mate Freddie Woodman. Tagging the goalkeeper, he also posted a crying laughter and flexing bicep emojis. The midfielder was later seen in a picture shared by the club, embracing new signing Ronald Araujo during an indoor training session.
What's next for Jones?
It remains to be seen if Jones, who also set tongues wagging following an on-field clash with Dominik Szoboszlai and Kostas Tsimikas during Liverpool's pre-season tour of the United States, will feature for the Reds in their final pre-season friendlies against Como on Sunday, August 16. They will first host the Serie A side behind closed doors at 11.30am, before then meeting at Anfield at 6pm.
While speculation about Jones’ future continues, Iraola had stressed that he was keen to retain the midfielder’s services earlier this summer. “I rate Curtis very highly,” he said. “For me he is a great, great player and I hope he can continue with us and continue performing the way he has been performing. It’s very important that he’s scouse, that he’s from here. I also like the personality. From the outside at least he looks like a player with good character and I hope we can keep him, not only for this year but for more time.”
