Curtis Jones is preparing to leave Liverpool for Italian giants Inter Milan, bringing an end to an association with the club that began when he was just six years old. The 25-year-old midfielder leaves Anfield having won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup, a Club World Cup and two League Cups during his seven years in and around the first team.
A decorated but premature exit
In July 2020, fresh from a minor role in Liverpool's Premier League title triumph with 99 points, Jones spoke effusively about his future in a Zoom chat with the ECHO as part of Nike's new partnership with the Reds. "I can't wait until it is my turn to be in the team and I am winning games with the club," he said. "I want to become a legend in this city myself."
Despite the trophy haul that would be the envy of most in English football, many feel Jones is closing the Anfield chapter of his career prematurely. Andoni Iraola, his new head coach, might count himself among those who feel Jones is jumping before being pushed.
Iraola's disappointment
Having talked up his hope of a new deal for the lifelong Liverpool fan in his first press conference in charge last month, Iraola on Friday reiterated his gentle disappointment that he is about to lose such a gifted midfielder. "With Curtis, it is not official but there is an ongoing situation," Iraola said at his press conference to preview the Premier League opener at Newcastle United. "I talked to him in the first or second training. I value him a lot as a player, he loves this club - it was very clear since the beginning for me. But I understood that probably the outcome was going to be what it has been at the end."
Jones will earn recognition for his willingness to take on a new challenge with a young family in a different country, and the city of Liverpool will always champion one of their own thriving in ventures elsewhere. In that sense, the England international will get a warm send-off after a decorated career on Merseyside.
A rushed end to an Anfield chapter
But it still feels as though this Anfield exit has been rushed, hurried through after a relatively lean unhappy period last season. Back in November, fresh from a chastening 4-1 defeat at home to PSV in the Champions League, Jones spoke of the team being "in the s***". "I don't even have the words," Jones said at the time. "I'm past being angry and sad. I don't have the words. I'm a player and a fan. I haven't experienced a team play that bad. As of now we're in the s*** and it needs to change."
It did change, slightly, with Jones starting seven successive games across December and early January and an unbeaten run of 13 matches steadied the ship while failing to reignite the terraces. A place on the bench at Arsenal at the turn of 2026, however, was said to have been taken badly as Slot ended Jones's seven-game starting run. He leaves the club having rarely been a regular across his 228 appearances.
The irony is that a brand new era under Iraola might have provided Jones the firmest platform yet to regular first-team football, particularly given how enthusiastic the head coach was when asked about him last month. But an unhappy pre-season period was punctuated by the unnecessary on-field spat with Dominik Szoboszlai and Kostas Tsimikas over the captaincy following the 1-0 win over Wrexham at New York's Yankee Stadium. By that point, particularly given Inter's determination behind the scenes, the writing was on the wall for Jones. As the former pupil of St Vincent de Paul pulls on the famous black and blue of the Nerazzurri this week, perhaps only he can answer if he does in fact depart as a legend in this city.
