Liverpool have subtly lowered their asking price for midfielder Curtis Jones following prolonged negotiations with Inter Milan. Jones' proposed move to Italy has been in the offing for months - and it appears a breakthrough has now been made.
Breakthrough in negotiations
It was way back in June when Liverpool rejected a second bid from Inter worth £21.7million. The Reds had grown frustrated with their approach for the midfielder, who they have valued at £35m, despite being in the final 12 months of his contract.
However, the growing pressure to offload players in the final stages of the transfer window is beginning to tell at Anfield. Jones is one of several players who are in the final year of their contract at Liverpool, who have so far failed to sell this summer.
Pressure to sell mounts
Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah all left for nothing, while remarkably, Luca Stephenson, a 22-year-old midfielder, is the only player to pull in a transfer fee, having moved to Bolton for £700,000.
There are just 17 days left in the transfer window, and eight days until the season starts for Andoni Iraola's side, they've been forced to seek a compromise. Corriere dello Sport say that Liverpool's €40m (£34m) valuation has softened for Jones, who has already agreed personal terms and will become Inter's third English signing this summer, following John Stones and Djed Spence.
Compromise reached
He will move for closer to €35m (£30m), bringing in valuable funds for the club. Stejan Bajcetic and Calvin Ramsay are also in the final year of their contracts at Liverpool and could also be moved on in the coming weeks.
Joe Gomez, Wataru Endo, Kostas Tsimikas, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker are in the same boat, although Iraola wants to keep them, posing the possibility of losing them for nothing next summer. It's an obvious issue for the club to deal with, as they also try to add quality before the deadline.
Other transfer business
Ronald Araujo has joined Victor Munoz in joining the Reds this summer, but the signing of a world-class forward remains outstanding amid stalled negotiations with Paris Saint-Germain for Bradley Barcola.
"There are obvious situations that we know where we need to sign players," Iraola said last month. "A winger, for example – we definitely need to sign a winger."
"But there are other situations that we will have to analyse what the market gives you, what’s the cost, how we also see the players we have. We have some tricky positions where we have injured players that we trust but is still not the ideal situation. So, it will depend on a lot of things."
