Italian reports claim Liverpool are telling a 'white lie' about Curtis Jones' hip injury as the midfielder pushes for a move to Inter Milan. The Serie A club have been keen on Jones all summer and appear close to reaching an agreement.
Transfer saga intensifies
Liverpool rejected a second offer from Inter worth £21.7million in June, but Inter remain keen. The Reds have grown frustrated with Inter's negotiating tactics and have reportedly lowered their asking price to speed up a resolution. A deal could now be done for less than £34m.
Jones has missed Liverpool's last three pre-season matches against Leeds, Monaco and Como. After the 3-2 defeat to Monaco on August 9, manager Andoni Iraola said: "Curtis, he has trained every day but yesterday finished with issues in the hip. 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."
Italian media claim 'white lie'
Sport Mediaset claim the medical explanation is a 'white lie', suggesting Jones is sitting out matches to push through the transfer and avoid an injury that could threaten the deal. Corriere dello Sport report that the Liverpool academy graduate is determined to secure the move to Italy, where he would reunite with John Stones and Djed Spence.
Inter have loaned Davide Frattesi to Lazio, creating room in the squad, and are preparing an official offer worth €30m (£25.65m) plus add-ons. That remains well below Liverpool's asking price, but time is running short in the transfer window and Jones has fewer than 12 months left on his contract.
Liverpool's weakened position
Liverpool's negotiating position is weakened as a result, with departures needed to raise cash after losing Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah for nothing this summer. Earlier in the summer, Iraola expressed a desire to keep Jones, but circumstances may have changed.
"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."
